Forgotten Worlds
by Xion the Author
Summary: Buck's past was as complicated as his life now. A certain part of his past was actually what brought him to become the adventurist ruffian that we all know and love. But what if his past has always been in the present, chasing after him? BuckxOC
1. In the Beginning

**Xion the Author: It's about time I make a Buck fanfic. My prof pic is basically Buck himself. This is the most intriguing idea for me as well, and I cracked up an idea whether to give it a tragic ending or happy ending. I think you readers would prefer the 'happy' ending instead, even if it means making the story run longer. Oh, and to avoid any confusions, flashbacks and dreams will be running in Buck's POV while present conditions will go about in third-person.  
**

**FORGOTTEN WORLDS**

* * *

_Chp. 1: Ab Initio_

I would be drawn breathless every time I see her. I would feel weightless. I would lose feel of my entire body, as if I was nothing but a soul capsizing in an empty vessel with a pumping chest and a heart growing ever warmer by her side. The cold within me drew away every time I was with her. Gravity began to disappear, and the only way for me to stay on earth was to hold on to her.

But I lost her. And now, here in this wretched space I wander. Only thoughts remained lingering and drifting through my fingers like a knife had been pierced into me. But I still felt every bit and amount of pain kept inside. Every bone in my body shaking and trembling in agony. Why was it that I still felt void in oblivion when I could only feel this way when I was with her, when she was alive?

Perhaps… when she was gone, she stayed. In my head. In my dreams, where waking up was never as worse as living a nightmare in my sleep. Cold, bitter, and alone, at least when I'm awake I felt everything was concrete.

* * *

Buck stood up, gasping for air as beads of sweat dropped under the branch he accidentally slept upon. "_I must stay awake. I must stay awake," _he chanted in his mind. He search aimlessly for his knife to find it pierced unto the trunk of the tree he slumbered. He jumped down, and back on his feet he grabbed the knife and looked around. Looking for something further away from his past.

The scenery was intense. The thick jungle around him never ceased to amaze him. Vines crept down as if beckoning him to climb up and swing. But he was too smart for that. Only a fool wouldn't notice the large mouth on top of the 'trees'. It's leaves nothing but a camouflage underneath when from above it cast a ghastly sight. Even the trees knew of him. For who wouldn't know of the great one-eyed weasel who could tame even the greatest of beasts?

Buck caught sight of a tiny plant in front of his path that he immediately jolted to a sprint and leaped up into the air to avoid its tendril jaws swallowing everything it saw. No amount of wire cutting could save him from that. Of all the places to fall asleep, the Jungle of Misery was one of the most undesirable. A few however had submitted their loyalty to him and would not harm him, but the others still found him temptingly delicious.

"Mangy buggers," Buck spat. He balanced the dull side of his knife on his right shoulder and trotted along the grassy trail.

* * *

"You have a fair sense of humor Buck," a fair weasel said. "Let's just hope you don't get hurt in every joke you crack"

"They started it!" I said as she wrapped the last amount of leaves around my arm. She pulled so tightly that I uttered a loud grunt.

"It doesn't matter who starts it. What matters is that you don't get into anymore fights," she said as she finished tying the bandage around them. Her fur was as brown as mine with a white trailing down her underbelly. The only difference was that she didn't have spots on them like I did. She also had short peppy hair that always seem kept, though she never really makes any attempt to do so.

"It doesn't matter as long as keep beating them," I said defiantly as I grasped my left arm. It hurt, but the pain was nonetheless just pain that I could always bear with.

"But if you keep getting hurt you'll always have people worrying about you," she said, cleaning up from the mess she made.

I scoffed. "I don't have anyone, remembah? Both our folks ah dead, and I don't any of mah relatives. I'm the only one with this weird accent in the entiah village."

"Well, you still have me to worrying about," she said, finally clearing up the mess she made from the table. The house was a small hut made out of twigs and branches. It was a house left behind by her parents. I had one of my own, but there was nothing there that could fill up the empty hole in my chest.

I rubbed my left arm, and I wondered. "Why ah you worried about me all the taime Amelia?" I asked.

She glanced towards me as I caught her eye. "You and I are the same, remember?" she answered politely. She was always like that. Never meaning to give any offense to anyone unless she wanted to.

"That can't be all ain't it?" I asked, lifting myself from my seat made of tough branches tied up together. Our humble abode was built mostly with makeshift furnitures and accessories.

"It's not like I have any other close friends, remember?" she said. In a blink of an eye I remembered that it was all my fault all the girls would avoid her. And I picked fights with almost every guy in the village, no matter what size or age.

"Raight…" I muttered. Who wouldn't avoid someone who could spell danger when your around with. "Mebbe yer better off without me then"

"Oh, don't be silly," she said immediately as she served me a twig full of berries. I picked one just to toy with until it would squish in all my squeezing.

"You could be happier without me hanging around you all the time," I said. "Won't you?"

She put the twig down seeing that I wasn't in any mood of eating. "Will that make you happy?" she asked.

"If… it makes you happy, then-"

"Well, it won't" she cut me off with a smile. I could feel my face blush. Whether it was her reply or her smile, it still got me adrift in red cheeks and feverish warmth.

"Why are you always so kind to me?" I asked.

"Why are you in a mood of always asking questions today?" she said. She smiled and I wanted to avert my eyes from her face, but I kept staring at her for an answer. "Well, I guess you're... really close to me"

My heart began to race. She drew upon me closer and closer. "You're…" Amelia said as she approached me with my chest exhausting itself and I suffocated myself from not breathing in nervousness. And finally, when she opened her lips, she said, "…like a brother to me."

And there went my hopes of having a girlfriend. I nearly collapsed on the floor from all that blushing and anxiety. She giggled and turned around to the door after grabbing a basket she weaved out of dried leaves from the side. "I'm gonna go outside to pick some other berries you might like," she said, taking a short glance at the branch of berries sitting idly on the table. "I won't be gone for long"

I watched her exit the house as she closed the door shut. I can't believe myself for having such feelings for her, and it was only now that I realized that I already had these feeling long ago.

* * *

Buck snapped out of his trance to find an already collapsed Rudy growling at him. "Oh, yer still not completely tied up yet bud?" Buck said as he cut a few vines and wrapped it around his mouth to make sure he wouldn't snap them shut when he least suspect it. He climbed unto the large behemoth's scaly body and rested near one of the plates sticking out on its back.

"You know anythin' about girls?" he asked. The monster just stayed growling at him, but he continued to talk to him as if having a normal conversation. "You know, hip swingin', eye catchin', slender lookin' ladies?"

Strangely, Rudy gave a simple grunt as if suddenly becoming interested in the topic.

"You don't? Well, that's not so bad. I don't eithah," he said as he patted him gently on his back. "Only relationship that evah worked for me was with an ugly pineapple. But somehow she rotted away ahead of me,"

Rudy leaned his head closer to the left, nearer towards where the weasel rested upon. He listened intently to the intriguing topic at hand.

"It's not that I don't_ want _to chase girls around, its just that I still haven't gotten over… her…" Suddenly, his head started to ache and he squeezed his hands around his head trying to quell the pain. Thoughts and memories of her simply haunted him, and those were the only things that could devastate him as such.

* * *

**Xion the Author: Chapters might run shorter than my usual standard for my previous stories, but that's only because I usually deal with multiple characters. Either way, hope you like it because I actually have no idea how long this story might go on.  
**


	2. A Nightmare

**Xion the Author: I just wish I could get more reviewers… but nonetheless here is the new chapter! Once again, I am reminding everyone that flashbacks/dreams are in Buck's POV and present conditions happen in third-person. BTW the chapter titles are in different languages (and I'd like to keep it that way) but the English translations are at the chapter labels.  
**

**FORGOTTEN WORLDS**

* * *

_Chp. 2: Un Incubo_

I feel a cold fluid run across my feet, and I jerked my head up in surprise as I awoke from slumber. I was waiting patiently for the female weasel to return, but before I knew it I fell fast asleep. I noticed the rain pouring heavily on the roof with a few leaking drops here and there. Lightning beamed across the sky with an uproar of thunder that followed shortly afterwards. The bright flash lightened to the room through a hooded window, and I saw as I could much feel that the room was flooded knee-deep. I raced towards the exit and the door to let the water out.

To my surprise, none exited as outside had the same amount of water with only a current that gushed down the hill. I trekked through the mud-watered terrain to see through the heavy rain my fellow weasels running away and climbing up trees trying to avoid the frightening downpour.

"Run for your lives! The dam is about to break!" shouted a few adolescents meters away from me. Upon overhearing it, the first thought that ran across my mind was to look for the only friend I ever had. Amelia.

I didn't have much time. The berry patches she'd usually get go to were uphill. Swimming through the water against the current was an idiotic move, and the slope of the hill our village rested upon was enough to eventually turn the flood into turbulent waters. As fast as I could, I dragged myself out of the water climbing up through a nearby tree. I jumped from branch to branch. I didn't know if I could make it, but it wasn't like I had a better choice. I was going to look for Amelia, and it was all that ran inside my mind.

I jumped on one last tree before finally spotting her climbing desperately on a pine tree. She couldn't get a grip on the bark as it tore and fell in each attempt she tried. I raced towards her and noticed that the water was developing an even stronger current. We were running out of time.

"Amelia!" I cried. I latched onto the branch of the tree she tried to climb up on.

"Buck!" she cried. I crossed my legs around the branch as I stoop down to reach my hand out towards her.

"Take my hand!" I shouted. She reached out hers, but her hand was hardly even near arm's length of mine. As I continued to reach my hand out, I noticed her holding the basket of berries on her left hand. "Let go of the berries!"

"These are your favorites!" she cried. "They only grow once a year!"

"Just let go of them!" I screamed.

"Nuh uh!" she shouted. "I worked hard picking up these berries!"

"We could always get them next year!" I shouted back, a little more annoyed this time.

"We can still get it now!" she clamored back.

Darn it. She was always so stubborn. I continued to reach my hand out though futile it was "Amelia... I-I-" Perhaps if I was older, I would've noticed that the dam had already broken just moments ago. A huge tidal wave flushed us down the hill. It was over ten feet high and it took me and Amelia with it like twigs. I twirled and twisted around the turbulent waters before finally regaining a strain of control over my actions. Soon as I could command enough strength, I swam up to the surface of the rushing current. Rummage and debris from our homes were swept away by it.

I looked left and right before calling out her name. "Amelia!"

"Buck!" she shouted a few inches away from me. The freezing water chilled through my muscles and up to the bone. I could barely move through the cold. I desperately tried to swim towards her when another wave almost knocked me down.

It brought me up and down its powerful grasp like a leaf in a hurricane. But as soon as I regained control of my limbs once again, I swam up to the surface once again. I searched aimlessly through the muddy-snowy water. I then saw her floating idly a fallen branch on the other side. I swam towards her, and I might have been able to swim up to her if it weren't for the mountain of debris that stopped me. I landed safely on a bunch of leaves and twigs as I saw her continue to drift down the hill. I climbed up through the rummages but as soon as I saw the water again, my legs froze. I couldn't move. The only thing that moved was my eyes as it watched her helplessly. I pulled, forced, and begged my legs to move, but suddenly I became deathly afraid of the current upon me.

"Amelia!" I shouted to the top of my voice.

Hours passed, and only afterwards could I move. The still waters that remained were only as knee-deep as I found them when I woke up. The sky remained dark and cloudy. I seemed to move like a mindless zombie as my widened eyes searched for her through every corner.

"_Amelia… I-I-"_

Everything kept running over and over in my mind, reoccurring like an endless pendulum. While everyone else was just as devastated of the tragedy that happened, the events reran inside my brain like a cinema. Maybe… maybe if I had only told her of how I felt… I could have persuaded her to drop the berries in the first place. Maybe… maybe… if I was only brave enough, I could have swum into the water to save her. And even if couldn't… I would at least… with her…

My heart ached as every moment of time passed. The thought enough of what I feared was as almost as horrifying as what had just happened. I ended up west down the hill, where a natural river flowed towards the south. With its waters perhaps was everything the flood had taken away from me and from all of us. On its muddy banks, I noticed a peculiar object buried in the snow and dirt. I landed on my knees as I began to dig through it.

I uncovered the basket she had. The last thing I could remember her of. And, ironically, one berry remained within the basket's whicker form. It started to rain again, in my face, water rushing down it where as the rest of the world seemed to dry off as if nothing happened. The world was different from _my_ world. That enough was clear.

"Amelia... you're just so stubborn..." I said as teardrops fell unto the muddy ground.

Through my barren heart out came a sad cry.

* * *

Buck woke up in a dreadful sweat. Right under him was a calm slumbering white beast that had enjoyed interesting conversations with the weasel. Buck had never seen Rudy asleep before, and he was different with his eyes closed and jaws shut. A better sight perhaps, but right now his mind was preoccupied with more troubling things.

"I... I can't keep living like this…" Buck whispered to himself, squeezing the handful of head fur he had. He hopped off of the gargantuan creature as he silently stole through the night. Rudy continued to sleep peacefully without any disturbance whatsoever. He plucked his light tooth knife out of the ground as habitually as he did. Before going off alone again, he cut the ropes that bound Rudy loose. The white monster stayed fast asleep, and without a moment's hesitation Buck left. He would do this all the time, and just as always, the humongous dinosaur would try to eat him. But the weasel liked the fun and challenge of it, and would always untie him right after.

The weasel roamed the dark blue-tinted forest. The chilling breeze that trailed along his fur filled with nostalgic thoughts of snow and sleet; the smell of pine in every corner you'd go; the carefree life he lead without a worry in the world; but most of all, the most important person to him. Buck felt colder, not as a result of the gust wind blowing along the leaves and grass, but from his unshakable grim and remorse. He still felt guilty of everything. How he tried to forget, it would immediately come back only a few moments from completely forgetting.

He blamed himself and only himself. Who else could have put her into the situation, and who else could've saved her? Buck paused at point before slamming his fist into a tree. The tough plant shook heavily from the resulting blow, making a dent on the bark and a few leaves shaken off.

Buck breathed in, and breathed out. It shook some of the tension off, but not all. He leaned on the tree, slid his slim body down until he slumped his but on the ground. His knife rested right next to him as he gazed up the glass ceiling. How mesmerizing it would be to see the sky again. The nights he counted to stars with her, and laughed in how stupid the idea was.

The memories he shared with her none at all horrible. They did, in fact, made him smile alone like an idiot. He sat reminiscing the memories until his eyes once again began to slowly close. Right before his vision went completely dim, he snapped out of it right before he would fall asleep again. He slapped his face rapidly with both hands.

"I need to keep awake," Buck told to himself in fear of having to be reminded of his past. Through his nightmares they reoccurred over and over again, and with adrenaline and adventure he kept himself awake and out of the reach of slumber. He hastily picked his knife up and walked in search of what more could keep him awake that night.

* * *

**Xion the Author: I wanted to make the chapter a little longer, so I added the last few paragraphs out of scratch. The paragraphs right after Buck set Rudy free before leaving.**


	3. Drug Addiction

**Xion the Author: Wow… I didn't expect everything to go this fast. Gonna need to think hard to get the story running longer. Btw, I owe the chapter titles to google translates. I just translate them to different languages just for fun ^^ **

**FORGOTTEN WORLDS**

* * *

_Chp. 3: __Drogovou __závislost_

"Where else have I not been to?" Buck pondered, waving his knife around in mid-air. Each stroke of moonlight that shined on it reminded him of all the things he'd done here. He had vine-swinged over small dinosaurs that wanted to eat him, slid down a diplodocus from head to tail, and wrangled two stampeding rhinoceroses. And he had done all that in only half a day.

Danger was his drug, and adventure was his addiction. Blended together quelled his consciousness. He had not noticed it immediately, but he gradually became insane. His seclusion as the smartest mammal in a world filled with reptiles caused him to develop certain mammal chauvinism. The only mammals he had seen the most recent was, if not two squirrel rat hybrids, was a herd composed of the strangest animals to be a herd. Two plus one mammoths, a saber-tooth tiger, a sloth, and two possums.

With the thought of the certain herd passing across his mind, he couldn't help but lift a caring thought.

"_Wonder how those mammals ah doin' raight now,_" he thought, looking high up towards the ice ceiling, the vivid moonlight refracting above mesmerizingly. "_Wonder how all them mammals are doin' up the-ah"_

* * *

The blizzard gusted cold and frigid. But nothing could have been colder than my heart right now. I was lost. She was the only family I had, and I lost her. All my tears had already frozen away with time. I searched everywhere for her, and it had been almost three weeks since then. I did not stop, and could not bear to stop. I could barely sleep.

My legs shook and along with my body collapsed on the snow. I dragged myself up and looked around through the white snow fog to see a cave nearby. With all the energy I had left, I rushed towards it whilst carrying my numb feet through the snow.

I landed myself immediately on the ground, shivering at a small corner. There were a few twigs and branches around the mouth of the cave, probably caused by the furious wind breaking off parts from the trees. I thought a nice fire would do nicely right now. The raging blizzard continued on, and I was lucky to have found refuge. Any longer out there, and I would've frozen to death. But, right now, perhaps, I might not have minded.

I crafted a nice campfire, and the soothing warmth of it calmed my shivering. I gazed on the fire, and reflected on the past events. I felt guilty, ashamed that I could not save the most important person in the world to me. A few beads dropped from my eyes, landing and shriveling on the fire.

I was losing hope. It seemed that I may not really be able to find her. As if she was dead.

"Amelia…" I muttered, burying my face unto my arms crossed around my knees. A sudden gust of wind blew through the cave. I noticed the fire give a trail of smoke further deeper into the cave. Though teary eyed, I noticed the trail of smoke continue farther into pitch black. Seeing as I had to do something other than sulk, I picked up a torch and continued onwards.

* * *

Buck snapped out of his trance to find himself in a corner of the dinosaur world he had not yet explored. The ground stopped right unto an edge where going down from it was nearly impossible. Over the horizon where Buck thought had never existed laid a land farther than the eye could see.

The crazy weasel suddenly became anxious to explore. Without pause or hesitation, he slid down the wall of rock with his knife gliding along it, slowing down his fall. He grasped unto his knife down through almost ten floors high. Immediately upon landing, he grinned. He couldn't wait what wonders would hold for him.

He brushed his two fingers along the blade of his knife and felt its tempered heat. He swung it around, and felt relieved its durability was not so damaged.

In the moonlit atmosphere around him, the leaves appeared to "glow" with a purplish tint. Buck observed the strange sight, and curious brought him to touching the leaves. It seemed quite harmless enough, he thought.

He walked through the pale lighted trail and the scenery was interestingly unique. He had never encountered any of these kinds of plants back at the place he used to roam through. The Dinoland world was a lot bigger than he thought.

Though as kept in awe as he was, sudden rifling from within the bushes alerted him that he was not alone. Buck look left and right, glancing towards every corner around him. And not a moment too soon, he jumped to the side to find a giant spider was about to grab him from above. It had sharp talons and was covered in a few thick hairs. Buck grinned and tried to fight it as soon as it dropped down from where its perch, carefully dropping down from a thread of silk revealing all eight sharp legs.

The giant spider screeched revealing its venom-dripping fangs. Buck kept mind of it. Once the spider made a charge towards him, Buck flipped up into the air, cut a few dangling vines loose, and rounded up four of its hind legs. He had done so quickly that the spider could not even retaliate.

"Is tha' the best ya' got?" the weasel scoffed. Buck wanted to get a closer look at it, but suddenly there were more shuffling sounds behind him. He turned around to see three, four, five spiders approaching towards him from the ground and from the trees. Outnumbered, and placed in unfamiliar territory, Buck thought it was best to retreat.

He ran back with nothing but knife in hand as the spiders chased after him. Their numbers increased the longer he stayed in the viridian forest. But the deeper he delved further into the forest would spell only danger for him. Buck could notice that he was straying closer towards their habitat. The leaves began to be coated in silk, trees covered in giant cobwebs, and the screeching sounds became louder and more apparent. But if he would turn back now, he would only end up facing an army of giant arachnids after him. He would catch a glance at some giant silk cocoons of what would look like dinosaurs caught in their wrath. This was not good.

Buck looked back to see the armada of sharp-talon insects. Lest did he know that when he looked back forward, there was a giant web in front of his way. He stopped a few moments too late as it took his left hand into its sticky clutches. He pulled hardly to break free from it, taking short glances backwards to see the approaching spiders. He took his handy tooth-knife and tried to cut it loose. The silk was strong, and it took a lot of effort to cut a single string of the web. By the time Buck managed to break his left arm free, the spider colony had already trapped them in their clutches.

All around him were giant spiders crawling slowly to his demise, and behind him was the giant silk web. Cutting through the web was pointless, as it took too much time to even cut on string of it, even for a small gap enough for him to crawl through. He had to think fast. His heart was racing with adrenaline, and it was keeping him wide awake like he wanted. Though it would be mortally peril to attempt such adventure, he dared it enough to keep him away from grief and guilt. And this was the result of the gambling dice he rolled with his life every day.

"To think this is wha'll kill me," Buck said to himself. "A bunch o' insects". When any spider approached too close towards him, he fended them off by swinging his knife wildly at them. But, when a spider treads on the web it makes, it becomes a silent assassin within its white silk. Buck did not notice immediately the giant spider approaching from behind, and while being preoccupied from the spiders already in front of him, he did not notice until it was too late.

The spider unleashed its fangs, and when Buck noticed finally noticed it behind him, it lurched its venomous teeth towards him. Buck was able to dodge it from its attack an instant too late as it had grazed his right arm. Buck uttered a loud blood-curdling cry as he swung his knife around in berserk.

He began to feel his right arm numb, dropping his knife from the loss of control. His breathing became more rapid, suddenly becoming dizzier as the spiders toxic poison circulated through his bloodstream. He clenched his other hand on the wound on his arm, but his hard grip only ended up loosening as well. The venom crawled through his body faster than he thought, even from just a graze. His sight became dull and dizzied, his senses started to fail on him as he could not even feel himself slumping on the ground. He tried hard to keep awake. All that he could see now from his blurring sight were the spiders approaching him to invite him to his death.

"_Looks like I'm gonna be joining you now huh, Amelia?_" Buck whispered, half grinning. "_Sorry to make you wait so long…"_

Before he finally passed out, a single bright orange light flared through the background. It was warm, as if burning. Buck wondered what it was, but could've even think if it mattered.

* * *

**Xion the Author: Heehee, I think I can finally mention it here. In the alternate idea, where ending would result tragically, the story would have ended by now. But, seeing that maybe everyone loves happy endings, I picked the happier route to writing this story. The tragic ending would reveal that Buck had gone completely mad and had lost all his sanity, along with any consciousness he still had left. Tragic, ain't it. That is what would have happened. But, seeing from my dead-on cliffhanger, well, let's just say you already know what to expect ^ ^**


	4. Light at the End of the Tunnel

**Xion the Author: It continues! No, I'm not planning to end it bitterly or anything, so rest assured there is a happy ending. And, sorry, but the inciting incident isn't even here yet. I have a certain plan for things. That's all I'll hint :3 **

**FORGOTTEN WORLDS**

* * *

_Chp. 4: _Licht am Ende des Tunnels

_Pitch black. Nothing._

_Open your eyes. Blink._

_And see the light._

The brown weasel woke up laying on a leaf mattress, covered by a large leaf blanket. He was sweating heavily. It took a moment before he could feel the entire pain sear throughout his entire body. The sharp agonizing pain in his right arm, caused by the wound festering from the spider's bite. It was wrapped in a fashioned bandage that looked familiar to him.

"Whe-...where am I?" Buck muttered. His body felt so limp that he couldn't get up. He could see that he was in a cave, and judging from the view outside, it was probably high up in a mountain wall. The cave seemed well-kept with furniture and knick-knacks. This must be a permanent home for whoever saved him.

Buck was feeling uneasy, but nonetheless became aware that something was missing. Not the fact that he was brought to somewhere by someone who perhaps had a mind as intelligent as him. But... a certain something was definitely amiss. Perhaps his knife? „

He searched aimslessly through the ground with his hands. Rifling through the soft bed of leaves, he heard a scratching sound as his right hand hit something in its search. Buck immediately grabbed it and held it up, and without close inspection he could tell that it was it.

But still... something was missing. There was a hollow gap between his thoughts and his consciousness. It was something so significant that he his body seemed to tell him that should not forget. "_What was it? What else could be missing?_" He thought. Buck retraced his memories back a few moments before he passed out. Nothing he could remember. Perhaps, it was something in between from when he passed out and up to when he woke up.

And that was where he realized it. Buck put his hand over his forehead, thinking and doubting whether it was true. Tucking his head in and both hands on his forehead, he was debating whether it was true or not. His nightmares. They did not reoccur. He had a perfect night's rest without any problem whatsoever. But why?

"Buck?" a voice said, coming up from the entrance. He look up, and saw what he thought was a ghost.

Buck tried getting up to go to her. "Amelia...?" he said. He felt a fountain of joy bursting inside him, almost felt like he could cry. But almost immediately as he tried to stand up, his body suddenly gave up on him. He collapsed on the as the female weasel ran towards him.

"Buck, you're still hurt!" the weasel said as she went to help him. His arms wobbled as he tried to get back up. Amelia brought him back up and unto the leaf mattress. She sighed, both worried and relieved. "The spider's poison takes a while to fight off. You're lucky I was there, you could've been killed?"

"Wha… how are you-," Buck groaned.

"Now's not the time to ask any questions. I was able to cure the initial, fatal phase of the poison, but you'll need to rest to recover completely," Amelia said, holding his hand after covering him with the leaf blanket. "What exactly were you doing out there"

"I could ask the same thing to you, love," Buck grinned. It seemed as if immediately as they had seen each other, it was like nothing had happened in all the years they have been apart.

Amelia chuckled. "I know you have a lot in your mind right, I do too, but right now you should rest," she said, clenching his hand warmly in hers. She rubbed his forehead down to the tuft of fur Buck had for 'hair'. Amelia caressed it gently, and almost instantly, even with all the questions he had, Buck was at peace. He began to feel his eyes grow heavy and his vision blurring. One last question popped into his mind right before the hands of slumber took him into its feathery grasp. What _was_ he doing out there?

Before he realized it, he had fallen asleep.

* * *

The trail of smoke continued onwards, and as I followed it, I soon found myself in a cavern of ice. I shivered. It was cold. My breath came out as fogs of white. The orange light caused by the torch reflected on the blue ice. It reminded me of the color of sunset. How nice it would be again, to see it at the last hour when the sun touches the earth in an explosion of crimson fire.

I couldn't even notice it anymore. All I did was look every other corner in search of her.

From the heat caused by my touch, a bit of ice melted above me and poured down unto it. The austere atmosphere was replaced by a dark blue sky with nothing around. I turned and glanced around in search for the exit. A sudden gush of wind blew against me, and through its direction I found a small dot of light. I rubbed my eyes in case if I was imagining things, and seeing I had no other guide of where to go, I made my way towards it.

The path grew clearer as I walked. If it were only a little darker than it was, I would never have been able to pull my feet up from stepping into a deep black abyss. I noticed a pale colored bridge that spanned across the chasm. A studied its weird structure, and a few paces forward I noticed its skeleton-like form. I began to wonder what kind of creature would be this large. A few more strides after, I noticed I was going downwards for quite a distance.

I pondered the thought and wondered, "Could it be a dinosaur?". I immediately discarded the thought away. It can't be. Might be something else, or maybe only _look_ like the skeleton of a dinosaur. But as I continued to walk further towards the glimmering light I found the truth.

The light seared into my eyes, hurting it a bit, and it took a few seconds for them to get used to the light again. With my eyes open, I scanned around the sudden change of scenery before realizing where I was.

There were flying reptilian like birds up in the sky, soaring in groups under what looked like a ceiling made of rock and ice. It was filled entirely with green plants everywhere; kinds that I never thought existed. There were kinds that looked only like small shrubs where I regularly saw them, but here they were large trees, and grew by the dozens!

I walked my legs slowly forwards; my jaws left wide open in awe. Suddenly, a giant unsuspecting mouth came close towards my position that I flinched backwards in surprise. It tore the leaves right next to me, and as the giant mouth rose up high into the air I noticed a large neck span down into its humongous belly and reaching lower downwards to the ground with its tail. I beheld the giant behemoth from the cliff I found myself on.

"Dinosaurs!" I shouted in my mind. I couldn't really get the word out of my mouth right now.

I tried to slowly make my back to the cave when a warm breath behind me sent chills down my spine. I turned, slowly, seeing a large red dinosaur with a mace for a tail, a back covered with shells, and a menacing look on his face.

I walked back facing him. It rasped a loud spit-flinging roar. I was half-covered with saliva that I almost felt more disgusted than terrified. I wiped the saliva off my face, rubbing it out of my eyelids. I opened my eyes just in time to notice it swinging its tail at me. I ran back as it slammed heavily down onto the ground. I didn't know what I was thinking but I immediately jumped towards the large dinosaur in hopes of sliding down its neck.

But from my leap, my reach was about a centimeter short as the head of the dinosaur rose back up. I fell down shouting loudly as I propelled to my doom. I was flipping up and down in mid-air, and a few meters before impact, I hit on giant leaves that bounced me off unto another below it. I flipped even more confusingly with each giant leaf I bounced on. And if it were the universe's humor at work, then I blame it for letting the last leaf I bounce on to rip and make me land on my face.

I wobbled my arms up from the ground as I lifted by dirt-covered face. I suddenly heard rumbling sounds as the ground shook vigorously, as in pebbles right next to me were hopping up and down. I glanced to my left to see a herd of dinosaurs stampeding towards me. They were marching on four hooved-feet, had a large frill around its face with two large horn. Their eyes were glaring straight through me that when I glanced to me right I found what I had expected. Another group of those dinosaurs were stampeding towards me, but this kind had three horns, two big and one small on its face, and a spiny frill on back of their.

I didn't know what to do but cover my arms around me head as I laid helplessly on the ground. The two sides converged into a mass of horn fighting and pushing. Luckily, there were two fighting dinosaurs above me, and I was lying in between their space. I crawled my way out of the ruckus, barely surviving from all the sudden slamming of horns that caused me to tremble in fear.

As soon as I got far away as possible, and as far away enough for me to be comfortable, I got up and shook the dirt off my fur. I let out a deep breath of relief. But the moment I did, I suddenly felt a chill creep up my spine. I turned back to see in the dark shades of the bushes pairs of red glowing eyes. Out came were small psychotic-looking dinosaurs, their eyes seemed to be unfocused and danced around its socket. They looked like a laughing stock at first glance that I sniggered. But slowly they walked towards me as their numbers grew numerously in each passing second. I took a step backwards with every step they took forward.

Suddenly, when there were about a hundred of them in front of me, they stopped. I grew tense on my spot when suddenly their heads all turned towards me, and their eyes starting to focus on me. Their jaws tilted as their tongues extended out salivating. They looked creepy, crazy, and hungry.

I took my chances and started to run. They waited for a few seconds, like a hunter wanting thrill in its hunt, before actually chasing after me.

How am I ever to go back now?

* * *

**Xion the Author: Does this spell the end for the flashbacks? Not really, no. My mind is absolutely out of control.**

**Diego: And so are his A/Ns**

**Xion the Author: Hey, what are you doing here?**

**Manny: No reason in particular.**

**Sid: We're here because you want us to.**

**Xion the Author: Oh yeah... (ICE AGE belongs to Blue Sky Studios. I claim no ownership whatsoever)**

**Ellie: So what's happening next?**

**Xion the Author: More flashbacks and more epiphanies (haha, everything I write just come to me the moment I set my fingers on the keyboard [but the ideas pretty much pop up randomly])**

**Crash: Oh no, Buck is in trouble!**

**Eddie: It's just a flashback, nothing to worry about.**


	5. The Inevitable

**Xion the Author: I've changed this A/N so many times because I thought I'd be able to finish this chapter by then but so many things keep occupying my time. So many things like homework and prom. **

**FORGOTTEN WORLDS

* * *

**

_Chp. 5: __ An Dosheachanta_

_They say that when you love someone, you never stop loving him/her. Whether they pass on or we leave them behind, our feelings remain real and true..._

_...but they inevitably change over time..._

The brown weasel opened his eyes as he awoke from his slumber. The leaves he laid on crunched as he sat up. He inspected the cave to find no other living soul. He felt a bit uneasy, but as he padded his feet on the ground, he could feel healthy enough to stand. He grabbed his knife set beside him before walking to the mouth of the cave.

The bright morning light consumed him. His eyes took a few moments to adjust to the scenery. Buck gazed at the peculiarity of the view. It appeared just the same as any part of this world, except-

Buck couldn't help but feel something different. He felt everything was more... peaceful. There weren't that many dinosaurs around sticking in plain sight. Not even pterodactyls flying around; not a brachiosaurus head seen in the nearest mile; not even a sound or a peep. Buck felt confused. Perhaps it was him that was at peace. He had found Amelia, or to be more exact, she found him. But, nonetheless, he could a feel a great boulder lifted off of his shoulders.

He wanted to wait, wait for her to come so he could talk to her. It was perhaps the only thing that occupied his mind. What he had been trying to escape for so long. Who would've thought he would only end up finding it?

"Maybe I should stay here…- no, no. I should probably go look fo' her... but… then again…" Buck rattled his brain in deep thought. He couldn't wait. There was too much to ask, and it's been so long.

In the end, he took a deep breath and stood at the edge of the cave before walking the steps down the mountain. "M-mebbe I should take a walk"

The place was all unfamiliar to him, but he made sure he wouldn't go off into some spider trap again. He tried to stay focused and alert, in case anything else unprecedented would happen. But even after a fixed distance away from the cave, everything seemed peaceful. Not a danger in sight or sound. The calm tranquility of the forest made Buck think something was off.

He looked for any signs off tracks, whether dinosaur or any giant creature. But there was nothing he could find. Maybe this was a place dinosaurs didn't seem to venture off to, or at least go near. But why?

"Well, at least she doesn't have any trouble with them," said Buck with a sigh of relief, putting the thought aside for the moment. He continued off in the dense forest, speculating every inch of his surroundings. Calm, no danger. Not a single bit. Was he dreaming? It all felt too ominous and perfect. They were in the land of the dinosaurs, a land where even when you take a break in the woods or go to sleep you're in constant danger. And most of all what made Buck doubt everything was real the most was the fact that Amelia was here, alive and well.

After walking for a while, he could feel the temperature drop. Through one last set of leaves cut down, his path revealed to him a sparkling waterfall seven feet high, falling down into a small lake. Strangely, there weren't any rivers in Dinoland. In one of his random adventures, he found an underwater tunnel that would travel to other pools of water.

Below, near the banks of the pond, he found a familiar sight. Amelia was fetching water with bucket made out of wood. She lifted the bucket up and turned to see him staring at her, blankly as if all the chains that had bonded him adrift in space were broken. He had a light, a light that guided him to where he should be, where he belonged. He was speechless, though so many thoughts were in his head like what to ask or what to do.

Amelia smiled, her eye glistening in the shining blue spectacle of the waterfall behind her. "Guess you found me," she said, keeping her smile. How long it had been since he had last seen that beautiful smile. Buck eyes watered as he approached her, hoping it wasn't all a mirage that would disappear in the end. But it didn't. She put down her pail before he held her hand to hand. She was alive, and Buck could never be happier. Tears of joy welled up, and Amelia giggled.

"You know, guys your age shouldn't cry," she said.

"C-can it, will ya'!" he cried. "You don't know how much trouble you've caused me!"

Amelia smiled calmly as she passed her arms through and around him, embracing herself under his neck. Buck held her tightly. What the hug perhaps, they were both oblivious to what it really meant. But all Buck could care about right now was that he wasn't left alone anymore.

* * *

Our backs were lying on the white snow while we watched the stars dance in the sky. The air felt cold with its wintry charm, but with someone beside me right now, everything felt warmer. We pointed at each other constellations of what looked like this or that. A rabbit, a bear, a snake; most were probably made up from our imagination, but we both amused ourselves that way just the same.

"Hey, Buck?" Amelia asked, "What do you want to do when you grow up,"

"Huh?" I replied, "No one's really asked me tha'."

"Well, I'm asking you," she said. "Would you stay here in the village?

"I dunno," I answered. "Pretty boring he-ah really. You're pretty much the only reason that makes living here worthwhile. You basically lighten up the place"

"I could say the same thing to you," Amelia said with a short giggle. "So is that a yes?"

"Wha' would you do when you grow up?" I asked wondrously.

"I think I'll go traveling," she answered, sitting up on the snow.

"Travelling?" I said, now leaning my arms behind me on the snow. "Why would you want to do that?"

"I don't want to be just held up here like a prisoner," she said, crossing her arms around her legs. "I want to go see the world, go everywhere I want to go, do anything I want to do, without anyone to stop me"

"You know, sometimes I wonder who's more rebellious. You, or me?" I joked. But to be honest, I didn't really fancy the idea of her leaving someday.

She punched me on the shoulder. "At least I don't get myself into trouble with everyone else,"

"Ow!" her punch was always mysteriously strong. "It's not like I get mahself into trouble all the taime!" I replied. It was actually part of the reason why we weren't at the village right now, and that we were hiding out here. I did something the village elder most likely didn't approve of with him throwing stuff at me, and I got Amelia caught up with all of this.

"Maybe when I go traveling, I should keep an eye on you," Amelia said.

I raised an eyebrow. "How will you do tha'?" I asked. We both stared at each other like there was nothing to be oblivious about, but I couldn't really get what she was trying to say.

"Ugh!" Amelia moaned, putting her right hand over her forehead. "I'm saying I want you to come with me," she said.

I blushed. Well, at least I felt my cheeks flare up a bit. "You really want that?" I asked.

"Of _course_ I do!" she said. "You're like my best friend. There's no one else out there in the world that I'd rather spend my life with"

I smiled cheerfully. We then both looked up to the dark curtain of heaven and caught glance to a rip of light searing through in a moment's heart beat.

"A shooting star!" she said enthusiastically. "Make a wish, make a wish!"

I always thought wishes were silly. They'd usually never get granted in the end. But, on special occasions when you see something so prominent and special, you could help but feel as if your heart's desire would be granted. I closed my eyes as I let myself become swallowed in wishing, overwhelmed by a divine power I only imagined was real, hoping that it would grant me my one true wish.

I opened my eyes to see Amelia doing the same. It was as if she chanted her wish over and over again in her mind, hoping that her wish would be granted. That it _should_ be granted. It was taking her a while, so I poked her with my elbow.

"What did you wish fo-ah?" I asked.

"That you would finally stop getting into all those fights," she answered.

"Really…?" I asked. "You sure you'd wanna be spendin' your wish on things laike tha'?"

"Of course I do, silly!" she said with a smile. "Now, what about you?"

"It's a secret," I replied nonchalantly.

"Oh, come on!" she said quickly. "Just tell me!" She started pulling my arm but I quickly gave her a no. Then after a few minutes of trying to resist, she then started wrestling me, pinning me down on the ground. It hurt, a lot, but I wasn't sure if I should tell her what I wished for even after a million years.

_I wish we'd always be together…_

…_Always

* * *

_

**Xion the Author: Wow… finished this early in the morning, right before I go to school. I was doing this the night before until my eyes started getting unfocused and stuff. **


	6. Awakening

**Xion the Author: Sorry, for the late update guys. I really got bombarded with school, and I try to balance things out. The last few weeks for me have kept me really busy, and I almost forgot about this. **_**Almost**_**, of course, seeing as I have updated :D**

**FORGOTTEN WORLDS

* * *

**

_Chp. 6: _Αφύπνιση

"How did you get here?" Amelia asked Buck as she sat along the banks of the pond next to him.

"Aren't I supposed to be the one to ask that?" said Buck.

"Yeah, well I asked first," she smirked. "Well, tell me"

Buck thought how he would tell her, but for the first time he was ashamed to tell her the truth. He was usually pretty straightforward with admitting he was the one who smacked their neighbor's kid, but when it came to the deep personal stuff, he always tried to hide it.

The one-eyed weasel inhaled and let out the air with a loud breath. "After the flood – when, I couldn't save," he began, choking on his words. "I tried to look for ya and, after all that searching, I couldn't find you… and I began to lose hope."

Buck tried to swallow his pride, and continued anyways although knowing it was the most shameful thing he had done in his entire life. "I… tried to run away from it," he said. "I found this place just as soon as I did. But, every time I slept, I'd always see you. I tried to run, but then I realized-" he stopped, and stared into her eyes. "That I couldn't"

Amelia held his hand and clasped them between hers. "When you were gone, I used to think about you too," she said. "I used to think you were gone too, and I started losing hope. But now, you're here. I never realized how special you really meant to me,"

She wrapped her arms around him, embracing him into a warm hug that filled the cold depths of their hearts. After a few moments however, Amelia let go and wiped a tear drop from her eye. "Oh look at me, being all emotional"

The two laughed heartily, so much that they had forgotten when they had last done this.

They smiled, and all the remorse and sadness whittled away. "So, how did _you_ get he-ah?" asked Buck.

"Funny story, really. Almost the same as yours," Amelia answered. She paused for a moment to gather her thoughts. "After the flood… I was carried by the water through the river. When I came to, I was at the banks saved by a family of beavers."

"They cared for me, and they were really nice," Amelia said. "The mother was a bit cranky sometimes, but with kids like hers, I couldn't blame her. When I got all better, I set off home. But then-"

Amelia almost tried to hide it from embarrassment, "I sort-of, 'tripped' and I fell through the ice and into this wide world I never thought existed," she said. "I know, I know, that really wasn't like me. But it was around three weeks since I wasn't walking, and that tree root was just waiting for an unsuspecting victim.

Buck began to snigger, and soon enough he could barely control his laughter. "Ahahahahahaha!" he bellowed heartily.

"I-It's not funny!" Amelia retorted. "I got a really bad bruise, not to mention I landed on a bunch of mushrooms that smelled like rotten egg and-"

Buck laughed even more maniacally. So much that he began to lose hold of his breath, and that his untimely death would most likely be caused by cachinnation. If only the fumes from the Chasm of Death started seeping in into the air he'd literally die of laughter.

"Ugh! Quit it! I-It's not funny!" Amelia said trying to raise her voice in hopes he could hear her from his exaggerated merriment. But Buck continued on rolling on the ground laughing out loud with his eyes literally crying and his diaphragm about to burst. Amelia started to glare annoyingly at him before grinning as she cracked an idea.

In a few short moments, Buck was doused with water as Amelia took her pail and splashed it all towards him. Still sniggering, Amelia was about to get another batch when Buck stopped her.

"Ahaha, okay okay, you got me," Buck said, finally calming down.

"There really is no way you could've laughed from just that," Amelia said.

"Sorreh, it's just that, it's been a long taime since we've seen each othah, and I'm glad to fainally see yer old self again," Buck smiled.

"You haven't changed much either," said Amelia, who by then noticed the leaf patch over his right eye. "My turn to ask," she said before patting gently her left hand on the eye patch and across his cheek. "What happened?"

Buck put his hand on top of hers, feeling her warm caress. "…funny story, really," he muttered.

* * *

"Okay, I'm trapped in an undahground world where dinosaurs exist, and since the first minute I've been he-ah I've almost gotten pummeled, squished, clawed, and ripped into pieces," I muttered to myself. "What else could _possibly_ go wrong?"

Then suddenly, as strange as I thought might never happen, started to pour down from the sky. The underground world seemed to have its own climate. Dark clouds filled the ceiling of ice. Strange how it was I thought, but it was just as strange as finding creatures you would have thought had gone extinct by now.

"Buggers," I muttered. And almost as ironic as my life had been since I stepped foot here, a loud devastating screech echoed behind me. The heavy rain pattering on my fur blinded me to a short limited distance. I didn't know was out there, but I knew it wouldn't be friendly.

I dared to look behind, only to find perhaps the most horrible of creatures lurking behind me. Orange eyes piercing from the mist; glowing with fierce intent, I shuddered in fear. I stood paralyzed as he raised his claws against me. My legs trembling and unable to move. And alas its claw stroke down from above, slashing my right eye and sending me into mid-air. I was thrown aback like a twig in a hurricane. I yelled and groaned as I was flung and propelled backwards, landing on the ground head on. I bounced up into the air again and shoved my face back down. I felt like a toy for these dinosaurs. I lifted myself back up, discovering a piercing pain in my right eye. My body felt like a beaten-up prune. I covered my right eye, and judging from the degree of the wound, I feared I would never be able to see from it again.

The horror was not over yet. With my single eye left, I glanced to my right that the giant beast stalking at me with fierce glowing eyes.

I ran as far as I could while covering my eye with my right hand. But no matter how far I ran, it always caught up to me. Trees were being cut down like grass. I climbed up one tree in hopes that it would simply pass by without knowing. It took all I had to climb up the tree with one hand. As I climbed to the top of the tree I passed through the dark clouds. As I reached the top, I noticed the peering tree tops falling down into the soft gray cotton and knowingly into the ground. It knew I was here, and there was no escape.

I breathed heavily as I reached the top. My right eye started to bother me, so I found a small leaf surviving under the peril of the storm. I plucked it up and tied it over my eye. It was as if fate had left it behind for me. But if fate planned for me a terrible death, I choose otherwise. I remained wary of my surroundings, as the

I snapped a nearby twig in hopes I could use it as a weapon, and with all the remaining adrenaline I had I climbed up to the highest point where a branch stood out from the trunk. I gazed upon the gray thundering clouds as they seemed to gather around me, as if symbolizing a great tragedy would strike upon me.

A white being rose up into the clouds with glowing eyes. I flinched and nearly fell as my left leg slipped. I regained balance and turned back expecting that it would appear behind me. But no, just as I had turned my gaze, it appeared right where I didn't expect. It showed front of me, with its cloudy misty form. It rose into the air as I stood aghast and helpless. I screamed as it lurched its jaws towards me, swallowing me whole.

A great darkness consumed my surroundings. All my hopes, all my goals, and all my dreams, started floating away in a glimpse. It was over. There was nothing left, I thought. Perhaps now, I would be able to join Amelia once again.

But then I noticed; my heart was still beating. I was still breathing. I tried to move my hand, and it did as freely as it could. I opened my eye, and found that there was still hope. I was still alive. In fact, I felt as if I had been resurrected from the dead. I felt reborn, like it was a time of renewal. Just before I had gone completely down into its stomach, I latched on into the walls of its throat. I climbed up with my claws, its throat closing every once in a while, but I kept my grasp on.

Never had I felt so alive, when I was so close to death.

Right before the white beast could suck me down his gullet, I grabbed hold of that gross pink fleshy thing that dangled at the back of his throat. I held on to that sucker, and I swung back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and back - and forth and back and forth, until finally I let go, and I shot right out of his mouth!

I shot through removing his tooth. I launched into the air along with it, and I landed right into one of those ponds. The tooth dropped into the water with me, and as I saw a tunnel underwater I grabbed the tooth and swam away as fast as I could. The white beast didn't notice me, and I swam finally feeling safe once again.

I was alive. I was alive!

That monster, that… "Rudy" I shall call from now on, almost got the best of me. I may have lost my eye that day, but I got perhaps just what I need to survive in this perilous environment.

And from that point on, I felt like I could survive anything the world threw at me.

* * *

"So that's how?" Amelia asked. Buck simply nodded. "Is it still here?"

"I don't think it can follow me. There was a long way down, and trust me when I say its easiah to go down than back up," Buck said. "Besides, we've become good friends in some sort"

"I know this place top to bottom, and I know where you must have come from," replied Amelia. "I never thought anyone could survive falling from that"

"Well you yourself fell about a hundred feet down," joked Buck.

"Heh, well at least I didn't almost turned into spider food," Amelia teased.

"How _did_ you save me from those spiders?" Buck asked. "I saw an orange light right before I blacked out"

"Fire," Amelia answered. "Those things, like most of others, are afraid of fire. Their silk also burns up real easily,"

"Really? How'd ya learn tha'?" Buck asked.

"Secret," Amelia teased. She got up and gave Buck a hand. "Come on, I want to show you something. And since you're dripping wet, you could shake some of the water off your fur:

"You're the reason I'm we' in the fahst place," Buck replied.

Amelia giggled. "Well, if you hadn't been laughing so much, I wouldn't have had to do it" She reached her arm towards hers and Buck held her hand as she helped him up. When he held her hand, he felt that moment when that one grab could've changed everything. He wanted to grasp her hand firmly with his, and never let go.

The two walked through the forest hand in hand. It was like old times anew. When you used to do this when you were eight years old, it would be awkward ten years later. But, to Buck, it seemed as if Amelia didn't mind, or perhaps was just oblivious to the feeling. Buck wasn't. He blushed behind her as she dragged him to a deep part of the forest. As an austere light started to pierce through the ice ceiling, Buck could tell that it was already sunset.

The two emerged in a field filled with white flowers. Buck gazed upon the scenery as Amelia raced towards the middle. Buck remained enchanted at the vast entirety of the garden, while Amelia danced and giggled. Buck soon found himself enthralled as he watched her every graceful movement. A cool breeze past along them, and Amelia raised her arms up elegantly as the tiny petals of the white pristine flowers ascended up into the air like snowflakes in the sky.

Buck watched her and compared her to the old Amelia. She was beautiful now, or perhaps more beautiful. She was still her old tomboyish self, but Buck seemed "Wha' are these flowahs called?" Buck asked.

Amelia smiled. "I call them Snow Lillies," she said. "Cause they remind me of the white snow back up home." The flower was like a large stalk with little white petals around it. Buck plucked one up from under him, and examined it. It smelled and felt cold, the feeling you get when a cool breeze brushed through you on a hot summer day. It was relaxing, and enticing.

While Buck was examining it, Amelia unsuspectingly threw a heap of petals at him. They puffed into his face and made him snuffle and sneeze. Amelia laughed.

"Another reason why I call them snow lilies is because you can collect them in a heap, and throw it like snow," she said as she scooped another batch. She threw the heap at him; Buck dodged it easily with his quick reflexes, moving his head to the side just on time.

"Hah!" he mocked. But as he turned his face back towards her, a ball of petals landed again on his face.

"Hah!" she mocked. Now it was Buck's turn for revenge. He scooped up a large batch of the petals and threw it towards her. She simply ran to the side. "You're gonna have to do better than that!"

The two played restlessly until moonlight finally waltzed through the ice ceiling. Its enthralling wisps of light danced down towards them as they rested on the flowers and looked up towards the sky. Buck had finally found what he had thought was lost forever. The one thing that kept him balanced unto the earth. Whether he was too insane to believe it, or too insane to dream it all up, he could care less.

"Just laike back then, huh?" Buck said.

"Yeah… back then," Amelia said.

Buck twitched his left arm, and had it made its way slowly to Amelia's arm. He slowly held her hand, and grasped it tightly. Amelia felt his touch and glanced towards him. She sat up along with him

"I really missed this," Buck said. "Missed you"

"Me too" she said.

They started trailing towards each other. Their hearts beating faster by the moment. Both growing and losing anxiousness as their feelings and emotions finally realized and confronted. They slowly closed their eyes and let moment enthrall them. He loved her. She loved him. Buck felt nothing else could go wrong.

But as soon as the two were about to kiss, Amelia heard a small growl that Buck probably ignored or didn't hear. It broke her heart, but she had to stop. She let go of Buck's grasp as she stood up. Buck opened his eyes and looked up towards her.

"I… I have to go," she said.

"Wha? Wait, where-" Without further explanation, she left immediately. Buck didn't know what was going on, but simply watched her leave and disappear in the darkness of the jungle.

* * *

**Xion the Author: Long-ish? I guess. Bwahahahaha, I now proclaim myself the biggest cliffhanger writer in the entire Ice Age fandom. Now if only I could get more reviewers T.T **

**Buck: Don't give up lad! I'm sure there'll be more… in good time.**

**Xion the Author: Right… Oh yeah, haha, I was listening to my music while writing, and just while I was writing the scene Buck was **_**almost **_**about to kiss Amelia, "So Close" started to play, and it set the mood perfectly for me. Hopefully I did a good job of it in the end.**

**Amelia: Review please! Tell us how you liked it!**


	7. Emotions

**Xion the Author: lol, never realized I've been stuck on this site for over a year already :D Sorry again for an unscheduled update. I'm… writing non-fiction works now. I post them on another site. The link is on my profile. **

**Buck: Updatin' is getting pretty sporadic**

**Xion the Author: Okay, I'm just gonna admit it. I haven't given clear thought of what to write from here on out. I also want to keep on with the entire "flashback-related" thing, but I'm running out flashback ideas. And by the way, Blue Sky released an official teaser trailer for Ice Age 4! :D. The animation looks so amazing, you have GOT to watch it! Makes you wonder just what exactly Blue Sky has in store for us.**

**FORGOTTEN WORLDS**

* * *

_Chp. 7: _感情

_Am I...? Am I just a petal blown away in the wind?_

_Drifing swiftly like the tides of the ocean...?_

_A pearl laying lost within its murky deeps?_

_Nothing more than to be left alone and displayed...?_

"Why in bullocks am I thinkin' laike this?" Buck muttered as he sat left alone in the field Snow Lilies, his thoughts constantly going back and forth about the previous event. He took a few petals from a nearby flower, and when the cool breeze swept through him he opened up his palm and let it all float away in the wind. The austere vibrancy of the sunlight reflected on them like stars.

"Feel laike I just goht stood uhp…" Buck said to himself. This would usually be the time he'd talk to himself, or to Rudy, and have melancholic conversations. Buck slumped down on the soft cushiony field of flowers. It reminded him of the snow back home. He gazed once again at the sky ceiling and once again was filled with doubt and curiosity.

"Was the sky still filled with stars like back then? Was the ground still covered with white snow? Are the trees still as green as ever?" Buck though. Then, after a significant pause, one thought passed through his mind. "Am I just dreaming…?"

Buck raised his right arm and patted his hand on his right eye. "Yup. Definitely real," the weasel said to himself. But what exactly was he feeling doubtful for? His feelings for Amelia? Nope, it was without a doubt as real as everything around him. Then, perhaps, _her_ feelings for him?

He slapped himself with his right hand, rising slightly from his eye patch and unto his forehead. He laid down wondering if she really did care for him as much as he cared for her.

* * *

"Killed by wolves, how awful"

"And even at such a young age"

"We should take more precaution around the village"

"That poor thing, how painful it must be"

"Losing her parents so early"

"She's locked herself inside her house"

"Leave her be. She needs time to take it in"

The gossip I overheard as I passed through the crowd of people gave me a glimpse of how hard it must be for her right now. We were still both ten years old. I've been living by myself without any parents from the start, so I never had the worry of ever losing anyone close. But I never had anyone close at all. And for Amelia… I don't know if I should know how it feels like.

Her parents treated me like their own child. I was so close to Amelia that we were almost like siblings. Ever since I was a kid I was an orphan. I looked after myself pretty well, but I could never manage having a normal childhood. Amelia was the first friend I had, and her folks took me under their wing without reluctance. Though I never really let myself become too close to them, I still looked up to Amelia like a sister.

Instead of knocking on the door and probably leading up to pleading to let me in for 3 hours, I secretly made my way to a half-open window. I slowly crept it open to find an almost dark empty room. I raised an eyebrow as I made my in through it. I scanned my surroundings in search for her, only to find her crept up sitting in a corner.

"Go away Buck," she said cold-heartedly.

"Now tha' ain't no way to talk to yer best friend," I replied. Amelia took an apple from the table and threw it towards him. I was able to anticipate it just on time. "Glad you still have your usual rambunctious energetic self"

"Just leave me alone…" Amelia muttered.

"Amelia…" I slowly made my way towards her. I could tell from her voice that she must have been crying hardly for hours on already. "E-everything's gonna be alright"

"No it won't!" she retorted. "Nothing is gonna be right anymore! Mom… Dad… they're all gone–"

When she started to break down again, I held her in my arms as she cried on my chest. I tried calming her down. "Don't worry love… I ain't leavin' ya"

Her tears poured down like rain that day. Since then, we had been living with each other like siblings, looking after each other through thick and thin, no matter what happened.

* * *

"Won't leave her… eh?" Buck said to himself. He did, and he still felt guilty about it. But she was here now, and it's alright now isn't it? Buck clenched his fist, and stood up from the bed of flowers.

"No… ain't now way am I losing her again," Buck said with conviction as he grabbed his knife out of the ground. He made his way through the forest. Something eerie was within the atmosphere. Buck couldn't make it out, but a strange feel of tension reverberated through the trees. It was silent. Not a peep, squeek, squawk from any animal. Something was definitely wrong.

Buck reached the giant waterfall and found not a sign of Amelia anywhere. Nothing but her bucket was left in the pool. Buck didn't really like the nostalgia he felt of seeing her bucket. It reminded him of the bitter moments he thought he had lost her.

Once again, Buck felt that drifting feeling he once felt long ago. Skeptical to the thought that he might have lost her again, Buck strived onwards. He backtracked through the trail leading to the cave.

A few meters away, he suddenly heard voices. Strange voices, ones that Buck was sure he wasn't only hearing them in his head. He could a large silhouette of a creature in the mouth of the cave. He wanted to race up there immediately, but something was wrong. After all the time he had spent in a world filled entirely with bloodthirsty dinosaurs, he had learned and felt that cold intent to kill. But within that cave he could feel nothing but anxiousness and grim.

"I've been worried sick, my dear Amelia. You haven't been showing yourself lately" uttered a low heavy voice echoed along the cold jagged surface of the cave.

"Sorry- I… I got caught up with... exploring again," Amelia lied. She stared fearfully into his large grey eyes, a gentle yet possessive stare.

The figure basked its scales on the orange glow of the sun. Scars revealed one by one as he revealed his giant figure into the light. The intelligent creature sprung out its wings, worn-out and strewn with a few tears in the end. It was roughly half the size of Rudy, but its hulk-esque build made him look as if he could easily snap a full-grown tree like a twig.

His jaws gaped largely with pearl-white fangs. A small muzzle that resembled most of the dinosaurs, but what Buck took notice of the most was the words coming out of his mouth. Unlike everything he had come across to up till now, this one obviously had intellect significantly greater than reptiles. But right now it wasn't time for his mammal chauvinism to act out.

Buck hid behind the tree as he overheard their conversation. He could audibly hear Amelia's voice. And simply from the intonation of her speech, he could tell that something was wrong.

"Oh, my dear Amelia," spoke the creature standing before her. "I hope you don't go too far to the extent that I couldn't find you-"

"I'm not trying to run away Drakon! Really!" Amelia said suddenly. She was afraid, Buck could tell.

The creature moved its four legs closer towards her. His, or its, eyes still remained a foggy oblivion with a mysterious stare hanging over her. "Let's hope not. You wouldn't throw away the one person, who, _cared_ for you"

Amelia was shuddering, fearful of the enormous beast in front of her. "Wh-what are you doing here?"

The creature, or Drakon so he was called, stepped forward enough for his foul breath to be smelled. "I'm here to ask again. I want you to come and live with me"

"But I'm happy here!" Amelia said.

"But I'm not," said Drakon in a low fierce voice. "You'll be happier there. With me. I promise you"

Amelia didn't want to live with him. No matter how good the place would be, or how great or wide it was all she would be in is in a cage. Right now, in this corner of the lost world dinosaurs, Drakon, had kept her like a bird in his own world.

* * *

I was falling.

Yep. Not mistaken with that. I mean, seriously. I just fell through the ice floor and I have been falling for a few significant seconds.

Wait. What's that light?

I emerged into warm temperate world. The sight I could in my first glimpse of arrival was amazing. Trees of sizes you'd never imagine. Water falling from tall mountain peaks, making you wonder where they came from. Large reptilian birds soaring freely in the air. Tall Long-necked dinosaurs seen even beyond the horizon. Me still falling to my death-

-wait.

"Aaaaaahhh!" I screamed louder than I have ever done before. Pitiful how the last thing you'd see before you die would be the most amazing thing you'd ever see.

But beneath laid a light purple fog, and as I dove straight through it I bounced unto something soft. After bouncing I propelled back into the air like a trampoline and bounced into another one of the objects. Took a few times of bouncing for me to get a good glance at what they were. Mushrooms. Gi-normous mushrooms.

To think this day would actually get this weird. But with end of my trip down as I finally bounced back unto the earth and stand on my two feet, I couldn't care less.

"Great… where am I now?" I asked myself. First thing I did was look up, obviously. You'd first wonder if you could go back from where you came. The hole was hardly visible from here. It's like was comparable to a star in the sky. I then scanned my surroundings. I caught glance of a stick. It'd be pretty much instinct for a person to get something to grab on, especially when you just got trapped in a world full of dinosaurs and creatures you-may-not-know-of-but-have-existed-before.

I traversed into the forest wielding my staff/stick close to me. The noises around were… creepy. Squawking and shrieking monsters on the prowl. For me.

I shuddered at the thought. But I tried calming myself down. I've lived the trip getting here, right? So, I might just live the trip getting out.

Hardly. Right after I tried to convince myself that everything would be all right, something came up from behind who's feet I could audible hear. It was a small creature, with wobbly eyes that hardly seemed focused. It bawked, I think. Well, it was making a sound that you'd expect when you combine a reptile and a chicken.

"Err… hello?" I said, trying to keep my distance away from it. It was sniffing around, right where my footprints were "You hungry?" I asked while walking backwards away from it. Wish it wasn't though. "Please go eat something else" I said with a somewhat pleading voice.

Suddenly, more of them started popping out of the bushes. Not good. Noooot good. I bumped behind something hard. A tree. Greeeaat. When they started to surround me left and right, I immediately started climbing. I climbed faster than I ever have before. When I got up a fair distance away from the ground I stood on the sturdy branches. I looked behind me, and there they were.

Those things could climb. They were all squawking at me. Hungry for me. I could tell from the way the all menacingly looked at me. I started running, jumping around from tree to tree. And then they started chasing. I'd look behind and I wasn't outrunning them at all.

I drastically tried climbing and jumping around more, but obviously they wouldn't stop. And if my luck hadn't gone even more down the drain, the last branch I stood on snapped, causing me to fall down to the ground.

"Owww" I could only moan in the aching pain for a few moments before I caught glance of them. They started stalking towards me slowly, as if this scene came from some type of horror movie. I groped around the floor in search of my stick. I could hardly pull my legs up from all that running. All I could do now was stand and walk backwards until I leaned onto another tree.

"G-get back!" I threatened, pointing my stick at them. They all seemed to ignore that, and continued walking towards me. "I said get back!" I shouted, slamming my stick unto one. It made a loud thunk on its head, but no desired effect came from it.

I thought I was about to become lunch, when suddenly a large figured shadowed the light rays. I looked up to see it flap its heavy wings

* * *

**Xion the Author: Yeah… I added in an Amelia flashback. Needed to get more creative, but really I've used the idea "hundreds of little monsters living in a forest" before. So I did a few modifications to make things a little more different. I'll continue the rest of the flashback in the next chapter :D Hopefully I could get more spare time then since its the last few days of school here.  
**


	8. Slipped Away

**Xion the Author: Wrote most of this at 3AM since I couldn't sleep… :D KaylaDestroyer, I really left it quite obvious with his name and all, though I didn't really specify what he was just yet haven't I? xD **

**Diego: Pssst! Don't forget about the good news!**

**Xion the Author: Hmmm? Oh yeah, right. Well first of all, my high school graduation is coming and for the next few weeks I'll have more free time in my hands. Also, after my graduation it would inevitably be the start of our vacation which means even MORE free time. So from now on I _might _start updating a bit faster :D Yipee! No more homework!  
**

**FORGOTTEN WORLDS**

* * *

_Chp 8: _溜走了

The golden-colored beast propelled downwards, raining fire from the sky. The little dinosaurs scampered off in separate directions. All around me now was a wall of fire.

The moment the behemoth landed, his large wings blew a strong gust of wind that immediately put off the incinerating flames. I beheld the giant creatures in front of me. He grew a gentle smile that could calm any creature down. I felt relieved, safe, comforted. But one glance I captured that made me all the more anxious in my life was his eyes. The look in his eyes was the exact opposite of his smile. They looked possessed, eying me down like a demon.

"Hello young one," it said. "Are you lost?"

I nodded in fear, still grasping unto my stick as tight as I could against him. I could feel the ends of my fur standing up. He noticed me holding the stick against him, and all he did was chuckled.

"No need to be so afraid," he chortled. I looked into his eyes and I could still see those evil pair of beads that gleamed ironically beautiful in the sunlight. "What's your name?"

"A-Amelia," I stuttered. I tried to calm myself down from the sudden shock of thinking I would almost fall down to my death and find out I would probably be killed as I am eaten alive by an entire pack of mini dinosaurs, and the sudden shock of a seeing a large fire-breathing monster save my life.

"Amelia? That's a beautiful name," he said, nearing his giant head towards me. His breath smelled like raw fish and ash, not the delicious mixed type like smoked salmon. "My name is Drakon. I have never seen a creature like you before. Tell me, where did you come from?"

"I-I" I cleared my throat as I tried to calm myself down. "I came from up there," I said, pointing towards the ice ceiling.

"Up there?" he asked, cocking the tip of his wings towards the sky. "Then you must be an angel!"

…That wasn't quite as flattering when he said it, whether he intended it to be flattering or just as a joke. Especially since he sounded like a hundred year-old relic, and the fact that he also looked like a hundred year-old relic. But after noticing his giant wings behind him, an idea immediately sprang up into my mind.

"Hey, Drakon, I'd like to ask a favor from you," I said, trying to bring out a cute face Buck would say wasn't cute all..

Drakon brightened up a bit, which made things quite awkward for me."What is it that you would like to ask from me?"

"Could you fly me back up there?" I asked. "I really need to go home"

Drakon stared at me for a while, as if thinking about what I said."I cannot."

"Wait, why?" I asked.

"I do not think it is possible," Drakon answered. I doubted that was true. "I can, however, take you to a better place than here"

"Wh-what do you mean?" I asked.

"All I can tell you is that it is the most beautiful place you will ever see in your entire life. You will never get tired of seeing it," he intrigued. "That is, if you want to come with me"

"N-no. I-I want to go home. There's… someone waiting for me," I said.

"Well, if that is so, then good luck finding your way back home. I'm sure there won't be a flock of bloodthirsty dinosaur in the next few square feet of this," He was about to leave off into the air when I stopped him just in time.

"Wait! Wait!" I said quickly.

He had the most tempting offer I'd probably have someone offer me in a long time, but that certain look in his eyes made me want to turn it down without second thought. There was just something with them that stirred fear within me.

"I-I'm just not sure…" I didn't know what to say. He did save me; I didn't want to seem ungrateful. But nor did I want to join him. There's something in the way he looks that frightens me to death.

I could tell he noticed me shivering in nervousness. "Maybe you'd like a little more time? You don't need to decide now. You, you could stay up here!" immediately, he picked me making me drop my staff. He plopped me down a few feet high up from where I was, at a cave placed conveniently in the mountain.

"And when you're ready, you could tell me then," he said. Though he seemed nice, he seemed to be pretty desperate of not losing me. "Oh, and just to be sure you're safe"

He sprang out into the air and started spitting fire into places. Shrieks and yelps from dinosaurs all around starting crying out of the forest. I watched in anguish as the poor unsuspecting animals were torn from their homes. They were carnivores, predators of the natural world. But that didn't mean they should be treated this way. I felt sorry for them. Stripped from their homes all because of his malice. "They are monsters," he says. But the only monster I saw was the one with devilish eyes.

* * *

Drakon would come here occasionally to ask. Amelia would always try to find an excuse to turn him down. And every time she would try to escape, either she would see him fly by or other dinosaurs were in the prowl. She felt like she would never be free. Never be able to escape from the cage he had brought her in to.

Buck looked towards the cave cautiously; trying to be sure he isn't seen. He scanned around for a secretive path in making his way up undetected. The only way he found was climbing the rocks itself. Without a hint of hesitation, he proceeded onwards with his plan.

"Don't you know I am here?" the large golden-scaled creature asked.

"…I am aware of it," Amelia answered as she pushed out dry air from her throat.

"You are not only aware of it, I assume," Drakon said. "Being aware isn't enough. You also promised."

Amelia simply fell silent. Buck clenched his tooth-knife between his teeth as he climbed up the rocky wall.

"It's been how _long_ Amelia. How much longer do you want me to wait?" Drakon interrogated, circling around the female weasel.

"I-I'm just… not ready yet…" Amelia said slowly.

Suddenly, Drakon sprang forward towards her. "And how until you _are_ ready?" he hissed, "There must be another reason for this."

A sudden thought sprang up from her mind, and Drakon could sense immediately from her expression. "So, there is"

"N-no! There isn't!" she said suddenly.

One wrong grab and the rock Buck held on to with his right arm broke and fell down. He managed to bring his right arm unto a nearby and bring himself back into balance, but the rock continued to propel downwards, plopping unto the ground. It made a significant sound such that Buck was sure enough everyone else had heard it. He rushed on towards the entrance nonetheless.

When he reached the cave, he immediately wielded his knife. He looked around the dark room and saw that nothing was there. But at a single blink of an eye, a large cloud of fire erupted and Buck immediately crouched towards the ground. Buck looked up to see the silhouette of the large beast; its glowing devilish eyes burning with intent. It held within its hands a wriggling creature, trying to escape its clutches. It had its large finger around her mouth, causing her to simply muffle out sounds.

"Amelia!" Buck cried.

"So… _this_ is your reason," Drakon growled. "To think that you've found someone else"

Buck rose up from the ground and pointed his knife towards him. "Let her go!"

"I won't have it!" Drakon growled fiercely. "I am taking her with me, whether she likes it or not!"

Buck was about rush towards him when suddenly the dragon spewed more fire out of his jaws, causing him to duck down for safety. While the weasel was caught off guard, Drakon spread his wings out and soared over him. At that instant when he passed half-way by him, Buck and Amelia caught glance into each others eyes. The moment flashed into his eyes the memories of when Buck couldn't save Amelia, when one last dive into fate could have saved her.

Buck took out all the adrenaline within him and sprang his feet off into the air. He reached his arm out to catch hold of the dragon. He reached out his arm enough for him to break the joints between them. But even with all his hopes and effort, the dragon flied too swift for him to catch. Its large wings broke into the air and soared further into the sky.

Buck propelled down from the cliff and towards the masses of trees below. After falling through the first wave of leaves, he latched unto a conveniently placed vine and swung forward, bringing him atop the trees once again. He glanced up to see the beast already flying too far away. He started jumping from tree to tree in a desperate attempt to catch her.

Amelia was finally able to shake its finger away from her mouth. Tears started to flow from her eyes as she watched her love distance away. Buck continued on hopping from branch to branch, but he couldn't even get close enough to reach out to her hand.

"Buck!" she cried as beads of white fell down from the sky.

"Amelia!" Buck cried out at the top of his lungs. The dragon flew away with her off into the sky. The weasel continued leaping from tree to tree breathless until nothing could be seen in the horizon, not even a single dot in infinity. When Buck could no longer keep sight of it, he stopped and heaved onto a tree branch. He slammed his fist onto the tree trunk, causing the entire tree to tremor. A large dent shaped like a fist was left unto its bark. He knocked his forehead on the tree and continued slamming his fist until regret consumed his anger.

"Darn it!" Buck broke down and fell on his knees. He couldn't save her. Not even if he dove in through all the fear he had in his guts. All those years he had spent living in a world where the rule was survival of the fittest, he couldn't even save the one person that mattered to him.

He knocked his head on the trunk as droplets of water traced down his face. He was tired. He was still a bit sick from the spider venom. He had spent all his energy and all his adrenaline. Buck could hardly move a single finger. Buck demanded his body not to fall asleep, but not even all the will he had could stop him from drowning into slumber.

"Amelia…" he muttered, as the poor weasel didn't notice that his eyes begun to shut, and the world around him began to disappear once again.

* * *

**Xion the Author: From now on I should I should probably proofread everything from top to bottom before uploading the chapter. That way I could actually avoid all the common typos and stuff and add a lot of detail into it. :D **

**Sid: You hardly do that. ****And that's probably why it must look all rushed most of the time.**


	9. Resolution

**Xion the Author: I've done some research, and I've got some good ideas for what's to come ahead for Buck :D I could roughly predict that there might be fifteen chapters in total, but that's just a guess. Time to get things shakin'.  
**

**FORGOTTEN WORLDS**

* * *

_Chp. 9: _Upplösning

"Buck!" Amelia called out. I turned around to see her bright smile radiating under the calm rays of the morning sun.

"Amelia!" I called out. I started running towards her, my legs streaming through a river of petals as they float away in each step. A certain sloth was throwing heaps of flowers into the air; two mammoths were dancing a ballet together with a certain saber tooth taking their lead between them; and two almost identical possums swung from a vine opposite from each other were swinging up and launched millions of hearts into the azure sky.

She runs towards me as well, smiling her old angelic smile. And as I finally stray my hands towards her I pull her to my arms as I wrap them around her in a gentle embrace.

And for that moment, everything was perfect.

But then that moment ended… for when I opened my eyes, my vision unfolded nothing but total darkness. Held within my arms was nothing. I felt something slimy clenched within my right hand. I unfolded my fingers to find to my horror a bloody eyeball looking directly towards me. I jumped in fright and threw in the air. When it landed I'd expected a squishing sound, but when it did, instead it echoed into a clang like a hard object banging unto a metal frame.

On the dark ground was a peculiar knife. Its blade resembling a sharp white fossil; its hilt an old-fashioned piece of wood in which the two parts were tied together by a single strand of vine. Sitting terrified at the moment, I stared at it and slowly tried to get up.

I blinked. Or, to be more exact, I blinked my single left eye. I put my hand over my other eye to find a strange rough feel as I rub my hand over it. I tried to reach for the object on the floor only to find it fade away. I looked around to see the background changing. The ground, a complete dark oblivion as it was, shifted into a multitude of colors before the image before me became clear. I started falling as the image before me were tiny trees of green coated by a white blanket.

When I thought I would safely bounce unto a heap of snow, the ground that I hit simply shattered like glass as I continued to fall down into the abyss. A familiar orange glow started to take over the once white and blue landscape. I continued falling down seeing the change of scenery quickly.

Once I landed I thought I would be smashed into a million pieces, but when I did it felt as if I simply slipped and fell down no taller than my own height. Around me once again the scenery was consumed into a dark enigma. As I shift my head around, I noticed a small dot of light in the distance. I lifted my legs up and started running towards it. As I ran towards it, I could feel 'shadows' pass by me. They were in forms of a beast or a creature, and it felt like they simply went through me.

The way seemed to be a queasy winding road, and it seemed as if I wasn't moving from my position at all. I couldn't tell. The ground I stepped my feet on was nothing but a cold dark floor, empty and shallow. But suddenly, the dot seemed to come closer, as if it ran towards me. The dot revealed to be a figure. A person. A weasel, facing its back towards me. I recognized the familiar short peppy hair it had, and when it turned around, I knew who it was.

"Amelia…" I muttered. From her eyes flowed a river of tears.

"You said you'd protect me," she said, as the tears that flowed through her eyes shimmered into red. The guilt and shame inside pushed me to draw close to her. But after a step closer, she suddenly ignited into a shroud of flames.

"A-Amelia, no!" I cried out. "Amelia!" Suddenly, she no longer stood before me. Total darkness was once again the only company I had. At least it did, for the moment. Just as she had disappeared, a long grunt-sounding breath came behind me. I turned to see red beads of light that looked like a pair of eyes. Its vicious glow subjected a menacing stare.

Its shadowy form revealed sharp teeth. When it opened its jaws, out came from it was the last thing I saw.

* * *

"Aaaah!" Buck uttered in a blood-curdling cry. He woke up that morning in a cold-sweat, feeling a slight burn on his left arm. He must have gotten it from the day before. The nightmares have resumed once more. Only this time, they were different.

Buck placed his hand on his forehead. The dreams he had the previous nights had been nothing like this. The nightmares he had now were more horrendous. The dreams haunted him with replaying the same event over and over again. But now his dreams revolved around more recent events. Were his nightmares trying to tell him something?

Who was that dragon, and why did he want to have Amelia so badly. From the conversations before, he could tell he wanted something from her, or maybe wanted her. That beast must be very delirious.

Buck flexed his left arm. He was feeling a lot better. By the way the ice ceiling lit up, he could tell that it was just about sunrise.

A cold breeze passed by him. He shivered in nostalgia, remembering the cold temperature of the world back home.

"_Home_," Buck thought. What was truly home to him? Here, or back up in that winter wonderland. What did make things feel like home for him?

He looked towards where the breeze came from. It came from the direction where he lost sight of the dragon that kidnapped Amelia. Buck clenched his fist. Now was no time to be upset. What made everything feel home to him was to belong somewhere. And the only place he ever felt welcome or belonged, was with Amelia.

He leaped from the branch down to the ground. Buck made his way back to the cave. Ashes remained on the charred corners of the cave. To think that there was such a creature that could breathe fire. The old him would've wanted to tame it, even though its sublime intellect would make it difficult, he would have relentlessly done so.

On the now cold rigid floor was his tooth-knife. He picked up, held it, and gripped it tight. This was what he would use to get her back. If he could admit it to her, then he could admit it to himself.

He loved her.

He would give everything he had just so he could hold her tightly in his arms.

Buck looked around for clues. Clues to where he might have taken Amelia. Some of the make-shift furniture she had was burned down. The ones at the back of the cave were left intact, so Buck started his search there. He lifted the leaf mattress off, sending the blanket into the air. Beneath it hidden was a gleamed a stone that shined in the light. Buck picked it up to find a string attach to it. Both ends of the string were attached on one end. It fit in Buck's palms lightly. He inspected the stone more carefully. It was rather translucent and orange in color.

"It's probably amber," Buck deduced. Why would an object like this be here? he thought. The sick, obsessive dragon must have given it to her, which would explain why she isn't wearing it. He looked around more, finding in the corner a knapsack made out of tough yellow leaves. Buck opened it up to find what appeared to be book. Buck lifted it up from the bag and opened its tough covers. It was filled with dried up leaves with jots of black liquid written around it. Buck skimmed through the rest of pages before closing it up.

"Guess you were bored, eh?" Buck smirked. It was a guide book where Amelia had compiled all the knowledge she had gained while spending her time here. From dangerous beasts that could choke you to death, and to dangerous plants that could also choke you to death. "Even aftah all this taime, you still 'aven't changed." Buck smiled at the thought.

Buck lifted himself off to his feet, putting the book back into the knapsack and wore it on his back. "Let's just hope I still remember how to read." He patted his arm on his right eye. The things he had seen so far wasn't much, but they were enough to say that what he was going to face was going to be a lot more different.

With knife in hand, he headed towards to the direction where the dragon flew off. The trees and mountains covered his sight but not his spirit. His unwavering determination was leading him on. He had lost her once, and he wasn't going to lose her again.

But now the jungle had once again regained its eerie scary vibe. But Buck strove on with all his courage. He wore the amber necklace on, thinking of it as a lucky charm in finding the person he loves.

Knowing the dragon was gone, dinosaurs have begun to prowl hidden in the deep, and the weasel must now act on his instinct and wits once again.

* * *

**Xion the Author: Some of you might notice that I took a line from "Tangled" :D I really liked that line. And the chapter is really short isn't it? There's a part where I took it off and planned to put it in the next chapter to make things more... fluid. ****I could've also posted this earlier, but it was too short after I removed that one part, so I brainstormed to lengthen it as much as possible.  
**

**Crash: Buck-sensei! Please be safe!**

**Xion the Author: Err… okay… so, if you've read my previous stories, you could already tell that I'm gonna bend my imagination once again as I create perilous places. I should really list them all down so I wouldn't accidentally use them again. R&R!**


	10. The Trials Begin

**Xion the Author****: I'm back! :D**

**Buck: Dude, where were you?****!**

**Xion the Author: I've been hanging down writer's block lane. Actually, I was caught at the corner between Uninspired Boulevard and Laziness Street. Excuses aside, here'eth the new'eth chapter!**

**FORGOTTEN WORLDS**

* * *

_Chp__ 10: __Mae__ Treialon __Dechrau_

The great dragon swooned down from the air, diving as he knifed through to air. Heading straight towards the ground, Amelia closed her eyes from fear of being squished on impact. However, Drakon swiftly flapped his wings with a hard stroke, causing himself to repel the force going down and stop in mid air, making him drop down gently in a short distance.

"We have arrived," Drakon said in a welcoming tone.

As Amelia relentlessly tried to break away from his clutches, he simply loosened his grip and Amelia sprang out and distanced away from him.

"Where did you take me?" Amelia retorted.

Drakon made a somewhat malicious smile. "Where else, but the Promised Lands? Here is where I have always been trying to take you-"

"I don't want you to take me here! Take me back!" she demanded.

"But look around you my dear. Look at the grand spectacle of scenery," Drakon smiled.

Amelia made a cautious look before slowly turning around. At the glimpse of the moment she was caught breathless at the momentous display. In front of her was a meadow, surrounded by trees that grew around twenty feet tall. On its crown were blue crystal-like objects that shimmered mesmerizingly, growing at every seam and inch of its long brown branches. Going down to its body it was emanating an orange light, glowing between bits of bark along the trunk.

The weasel curiously approached the tree, tracing a finger down the radiating orange light. To her discovery, it was warm and liquid, appearing to come from the tree itself. Feeling it suddenly cool down on her finger, she quickly wiped it on a bare part of the tree.

But in only a few moments, it cooled and solidified, turning into a gem-like object. An object all too familiar to her. Drakon smiled saliently behind her, but like a small critter living in a forest, he detected a slight disruption within the place.

"…amber?" Amelia muttered, only noticing a sudden gush of wind behind her. She turned around only to see the giant dragon flap its wings as it rose to the sky. "H-hey! Where are you going? I want you to take me back!" she shouted.

"I will give you time to explore this place on your own, my dear. For now, I have business to take care of," he said, before looking towards the distance. "Appointments that should be avoided"

"Hey. Hey!" cried Amelia. She started running to chase after him, but in a split second saw the large chasm below her only an inch from making her fall. She gasped as she quickly looked to her sides, only to see the chasm stretch around her.

Unknown to her, the entire "paradise" Drakon talked about was sealed off with a large chasm, making escape impossible for her. There weren't any vines to fashion rope, rocks to make axes to chop wood, nothing to aid her to an escape. The paradise he brought her to was simply a better cage.

* * *

Buck tried to decode the now unfamiliar text written on the book Amelia had. Some words he'd get immediately, some he could barely read but not understand. He kept the book in safekeeping as he crossed a shallow river, and simply resumed reading it after bringing it out of the knapsack

The weasel was busy reading as he traveled through the forest path when a nice squish exploded under his foot. Buck looked down to see his foot covered in green mush.

"Yuck!" Buck spat. He closed the book for a while as he squatted down to inspect the little accident.

Within simple glance, it looked like another giant insect. It had white skin with green rings and had a smoother Picking up one end of the squashed little thing and examining it further. Upon close inspection, he could tell that it was at least something like a giant slug. But in his gaze he noticed the part where its face was. It didn't have any eyes, had short antennas, and had tiny holes in its sides for what looked like its nose. But what couldn't avert his notice was its large round mouth, covered in sharp teeth.

Upon putting the insect down, he went to Amelia's book and flipped the pages swiftly for a drawing of it. In a few leaves he caught sight of a rough drawing of the specimen. Buck began to read it out loud.

"Carnivorous slugs. Easily squashable. Resistant to fire (but toasts nicely with dragon fire). Travels in… ho-ha-hordes?" Buck took a while to digest the word before realizing what it meant. He quickly looked around to see more of the white green-ringed insects. He hastily read it down as his situation began to get dire. "Very slow, avoid quickly before surrounded. Can't swim," he read.

Buck instantly sprung off of his feet, kept the book in his knapsack, and started sprinting forwards, skipping over the screeching slugs. Though blind, they could easily sniff him down.

The deeper he traversed into the jungle, their numbers seemed to multiply. Their screeches began to grow louder as more of them continued to follow him. Once Buck would see too many of them in front of his path, he would travel sideways in search of another path. He started breathing heavily from running in what seemed like circles.

After a while of running, Buck came upon the edge of the land going downhill. There he could see hordes of them, making traveling down almost impossible. But at the bottom of the hill he could see large river, large enough for him to be able to completely evade the horde of carnivorous slugs.

It was a gamble he had to take, but though he used to love having chances of survival slim in situations like these, now wasn't the time to be having fun. Buck quickly glanced around until he came upon a hollow tree trunk.

The one-eyed weasel wondered if there were any other alternatives, but the slugs chasing him from behind weren't as slow as he thought. "These buggers just don't know when to quit," Buck said to himself. Without any further ado, he grabbed the hollow trunk and affixed it unto the edge.

Buck immediately mounted and began to slide down without hesitation. "Yeeehaaaa!" he bellowed. Old habits of fun still thrived within him, and he would be lying to himself if he'd deny his hunger for adrenaline. Sliding down, the tree trunk rumbled from the amount of slugs being inhumanely squished beneath it. Buck positioned himself like on a skateboard, simply angling his ankle to change direction. He skillfully swerved through landmarks of rock and stone that impeded his way. But smooth riding changed immediately as even he couldn't evade them all. A close inch bumped unto of the tree, making his ride turn and roll down horizontally. Carnivorous slugs were now the least of his problems.

"Woah, woah!" Buck shouted. Traveling on the rolling trunk was more difficult as it was covered in slippery green mush that made it a tad bit harder, and more so as the ride was rough. Without the ability to navigate, the hollow tree would hop up and down, making him jump up and drastically try to get back on. The weasel even held his knife in his mouth, simply so he could balance waving his arms in the air.

As if things couldn't get any worse, Buck spotted a rock pointing up parallel to the slope. Wide-eyed, he braced for impact until he jumped up in the last second. The tree trunk broke vertically in half, the longer half flying in the air, and the shorter half continued to twist and roll on the ground. Buck barely caught hold of the shorter half, grasping unto its edge. The adventurous weasel tried to keep the trunk slide straight down without rolling with only his two hands, and his feet dangling in the air.

Buck cringed and muffled out loud as a searing pain went through his left foot. He looked back to see one of the slugs biting down at the side. He kicked it off with his other foot before finally climbing back on to his ride. When he thought that was the end of his troubles, the longer half of the tree trunk bounced around and hopped at the other side. It eventually bounced angularly and up into the air. Buck predicted it to fall on top of him in less than a few moments.

Instantly, he leaped up as the rolling trunk was just about to land on him. Grabbing on from below, the tree trunk rolled to around until he laid on top and crash down on to his original mount. The impact made him and his ride leap once again into the air, this time broke into dozens of pieces. Time slowed as he thought, and from a short distance he could see the final lap of the race. With whatever long piece of wood he could grab, he rode on it and continued down as a sleigh. The smaller ride made him more vulnerable to the slugs that appeared in his way, but being able to navigate through it easier, he could simply evade them instead of savagely flattening them. But that would only work for a while.

He was only a few seconds short from getting away, Buck could almost escape into freedom. After killing so much, you'd think they'd run out by now. Sliding up through a ramp, he flung into the air and over the designated river. Though crash landing into the ground, Buck was happy enough to be safe on the other side of river. Those things weren't your average dinosaurs, and Buck never thought that it might be what would kill him in the end.

"Phew!" Buck let out as he lied down on the ground gasping breathlessly for air. "Tha' was one long raide!"

Hearing the familiar screech of the insect, Buck looked towards the piece of wood he had left from the expedition, and he saw perhaps the last of the white green-ringed carnivorous slug he would ever encounter. Buck made sure of that, as he threw the piece of wood along with the slug into the river.

"Score one for the mammals," said the mammal chauvinist. Buck took one last breather while staring at the still following slugs that blindly lead themselves into the river.

With that over, he decided to continue on moving. He tried to stand up before a shot of pain pierced in his left foot. He inspected it to see that the bite might have been deeper than he thought. Seeing that the light was about to flee from the ceiling of ice, Buck decided to simply rest for time being.

Time passed quickly as Buck gathered firewood and made camp, limping around with one leg. It was no different for Amelia. She had decided to make camp a few hours earlier, and all she did was poke at the embers and stare at the flame, feeling lonely and worried. That night she cried herself to sleep. Buck in the other hand couldn't. Or perhaps tried not to.

So much had happened, and so much he could lose that he was determined to get back. Buck wondered what would happen in his sleep. Would his nightmares resume once again, continuing off into a new branch of despair? Or perhaps let him have his sweet escape, removed from all the worries he had and was truly lost in paradise.

He could only wish, because he drifted off into sleep either way.

But in the still of the night, a beast with giant wings stalked the residents of the valley. Drakon spotted the one-eyed weasel at a distance, and perched himself on one of the peaks that stood out in the valley.

But instead of taking immediate action, he simply stared and watched deeply. Demonic eyes of evil intent glowing in the dark, a sinister motive was afoot.

* * *

"Oi, be careful now lassy!" called out little Buck as the young Amelia balanced herself on the woods that built the dam. "You shouldn't try doin' anythin' reckless," Buck said. It had been there for over all their lives. The giant dam that held the seemingly shallow river that supplied them of their water. It being abandoned, the first settlers must have decided to build their homes right near the original now-dried up banks.

"You worry too much!" Amelia shouted back as she happily skipped through the wooden platforms. "You're just like the village elder!" she giggled.

Buck raised an eyebrow. "I am not!" he protested. Buck innately followed after her, perhaps too immature to realize that he was really worried about her. The wooden platforms creaked as they stepped on it. Buck remained a bit cautious, watching Amelia stride in a happy-go-lucky manner.

"I really don't think this is a good idea," Buck tried to convince.

Amelia turned her head towards him. "If you think it's a bad idea you shouldn't have just followed me," she said cockily.

But while she wasn't paying attention, her foot stepped on an unevenly placed plank making her shift out of balance. She waved her arms as she drastically tried not to fall down the dam. She was successful, but she carelessly made her body force to the other way. Amelia was about to fall down the other side of the dam when Buck quickly grabbed hold of her hands.

"Hey!" Buck cried, trying to get her back on her feet. Amelia felt a bit shocked from the experience, but she took in a breath to calm herself down.

"That was close," Amelia said, "Thanks"

"I told you'd get yourself hurt if you keep doin' reckless things," Buck said in a worried tone.

Amelia sighed. "Fine," she replied. She fell silent for a while before mumbling to herself. "I'll just do reckless things when you're around. That way I won't get hurt."

"Wha' was that?" asked Buck, who couldn't really hear what she said. Amelia simply smiled back at him.

"In any case, let's go," said Amelia. "Before you get wrinkles from all that worrying,"

Buck scrunched his eyebrows. "I am **not** like him!"

* * *

**Xion the Author: The flashback here is to give more meaning to their past relationship**** (and also highlight a bit on Buck's past itself. My version of course), as might the rest of the flashback/dreams that will follow in the next chapters. Seems a bit desperate but I try to keep the essence of my story. It also adds sense to the story being in the romance genre.**

**Manny: Oh yeah, and the thing with the multi-lingual titles. It doesn't necessarily mean that the author(I'm not saying that I'm not him nor the opposite) knows these languages. He simply uses google translate, which translates everything very rough. He's just doing it for fun really.**

**Xion the Author: I'm starting to forget which languages I've already used actually. I might even resort to using my native language xD**

**Diego: Also, if you have any suggestions as to what Buck would encounter next, feel free to drop it with a review. Whether your just saying you read and enjoyed it, the best help you could give is encouragement from just saying that you loved the story.**

**Xion the Author: Right. Oh, and I pray that Buck will be put in Ice Age: Continental Drift. The current news only says there's a love interest for Diego namely Shira, voiced by (Jennifer Lopez). Though as happy as I am about that news, I STILL want Buck in the movie. It would break my heart to not see any dinosaurs being wrangled by a mysterious one-eyed could-be-pirate weasel.**


	11. Hanging On A Thread

**Xion the Author: Hello readers. I'm back! If you haven't read my profile yet, then you must not know that I have that I will start updating sporadically. And by that I mean I will STILL update, but not just as frequently (like every week or so) unlike back then. Life has a time constraint in things like these, no matter how important they are to your life. So without further ado, enjoy!~**

**FORGOTTEN WORLDS**

* * *

_Chp. 11: האַנגינג אויף אַ פֿאָדעם_

_Any dream is possible. __If he believes enough, a man can do anything. He could even change the stars…_

Buck woke up today on the wrong side of the leaf bed. He groaned as he could feel a certain ache in his body. He looked down towards his left foot to see it swell up a bit. The pain he could deal with, but gravity demanded anchorage for walking.

"Ugh… well ain't this just swell," Buck muttered. He lifted the journal out of the knapsack he kept beside him as he slept. Luckily, everything was intact. Buck scurried the pages off back to where the information on carnivorous slugs was written. Seeing the poorly drawn pictures of the green ringed slug, Buck turned a single page seeing as text continued off.

_Carnivorous slugs usually thrive from eating rotting flesh as well. This could lead its teeth to carry bacteria. Direct contact could muscles to grow sore and to swell for days (learned that the hard way). _

As Buck continued to read it, he could almost hear Amelia's voice saying the very words written on the paper. He reveled in the thought of her for a moment before snapping out and continuing to read.

_Water carried by Nyamphora Flowers found not far from their living spot can disinfect the wound. _

"Nya-what Flowers?" Buck thought. He quickly scanned through the pages in search for a description for it. Right now, time was of the essence. He needed to save Amelia. And for that, he'd need all his limbs. Though brash and persistent as he may be, this wasn't a suicide mission. Buck wanted to live in the end. That was what he desired.

After a few minutes he eventually propped up to a part gapped more spaciously than the other pages. In the middle of the two pages was something used as a bookmark placed gently between the two leaves. Or perhaps it wasn't just a bookmark.

Buck picked it up to inspect what looked like a flower. It was a little dried up, but you could easily tell that it was once violet. At the top of the left page was written in bold lettering read "Nyamphora Flowers". Not much was written, but on the right page contained a few sentences that read. Giant flowers that glow at night. _Grows near the Predator's Bamboo Nest._

"…Predator's Bamboo Nest?" Buck read the phrase aloud. Only a second passed before he raised a smirk and tried to stop himself from bursting into laughter. Inevitable, he couldn't hold it in. "What is that now?" Buck cackled, "And I thought **I **was mad!"

He soon became a bit merrier than he was last night. The one-eyed weasel caught a glimpse of Amelia's smile when he looked up towards the ceiling of ice that formed the sky. "I wonder if I could see the sky with her again…" He was now ever more determined to get her back.

While attempting to close the journal, Buck noticed a few pages unevenly placed than all the rest, standing out from the edges. He tugged on it and noticed it slid freely across. It revealed to be poorly drawn – yet understandable – map. Drawings of mountains, trees, rivers, and all the rest was drawn all around. One particular part was a cave with a red circle around it. Judging from the way it looked, it was probably the cave Amelia lived in.

Buck then came upon drawings of trees with small insects with teeth in it. With the drawing of blue squibbly lines beside it symbolizing the river, he could deduct where he was at right now. Buck stood up from leaning on the tree and got up on both legs. But the moment he put force on his left foot, he almost stumbled. Unless he planned to limp his way towards a battle with a dragon, he had to first mend the wound.

Though there weren't any specific directions other than he was one the right track, he was once again about to rely on his pure guts.

* * *

Amelia helped herself with a few purple berries she had brought along with her. The "floating" island Drakon had left her in had more various plants that grew all around. The fruit she was eating right now propagated from a nearby mountain wall, and the berries grew in small clusters with around 20-30 a bunch. She helpfully picked herself one up and brought it along with her as she went up a mountain located nearby where Dragon landed her.

While frantically trying to release herself from his clutches, she couldn't get a clear glimpse of what the entire island looked like. Instead of circling around the entire island, she thought it would be better to check things out from a high vantage point.

She was worried, mostly. Was Buck all right? Is he okay? The questions rang in her mind. Her worries fell on him rather than on herself.

After finishing the last piece of grape, she threw the inedible stems away as she further climbed up the now steep part of the mountain. The peak was a bit far off, but she was determined to see it to the end.

* * *

A few hours of traveling had passed by smoothly. Around our adventure-faring weasel were tall shoots of green plants. Bamboo filled the way almost entirely. Sometimes, he'd have to squeeze through a narrow way just to get along.

The weasel was wading through the serene jungle with the map in hand, charting every groaning limp. At least everything else seemed at peace. Or, that's what he first thought.

Even the conniving Buck couldn't sense its presence. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a creature appeared out of a bunch of bamboo, slashing through stems with a frightening roar.

This was the first time Buck had been surprised in ages. But he wasn't caught too offhanded. The moment the beast lashed out towards him, Buck quickly reacted himself to move away. But as his footing deepened into the ground, he groaned as the searing pain in his left foot shot through. In a split second before the creature's claw could reach him, the weasel was able to evade just in time, but with a bit of a loss.

The monster's sharp claws extending towards him, Buck pulled himself back. But in his current disadvantage, he could only do so for only a little, the map he held in front of himself was instantly slashed into pieces.

"Hey!" Buck scowled. "Yer gonna pay fer tha'!" He threw his knapsack into the air. One of the straps on the bag got caught in one of the shoots, hanging on its own in midair. At least that way, there'd be lesser things in the way, he thought.

But the condition of his foot still kept himself in a bind. Buck circled around the odd predator. It had a large head, with teeth proportional to the size. The head itself seemed to be at least a good third of its entire body. Its brownish fur, large eyes and ears; it resembled itself to be some sort of canine. Though Buck seemed a bit thrilled with the thought that it was another mammal, it showed no sign of being friendly whatsoever.

If you put all the animals together, Buck would deem mammals supreme. And above them all would be, well, yours truly.

The beast charged in with its small legs. For one with legs hardly proportional to his body, it could move quickly. Buck was inevitable in trouble. The pain that stretched from his leg restricted him from anything concerning proper movement. He trudged through fleeing from its eviscerating bites. Running was the best course of action; even though it looked unseemingly as it is. The weasel had learned throughout his years in the dinosaur world that learning from the enemy was always the smartest move, and running would usually give him enough time to do just that; and even if with every step he would wince in pain, he thrusted in his guts without hesitation.

Buck indulged himself with as much time as he had, studying the creature with every glance backwards. He'd turn his head left to check on it, along with the only good eye he had. While inspecting almost every inch of it Buck could almost recall one of the things from the details he could gather from the beast.

From what he could remember, everything tied down to what was called an Andrewsarchus. The name seemed a bit familiar to Buck, but now wasn't really the best of times to be pondering on names. Even with his trusty dino-tooth knife, Buck couldn't deal with anything with minimum locomotion. The weasel sheepishly tried dodging its attacks; ranging from bites to swipes.

A lot of bamboo shoots fell to the ground. The entire bamboo forest was being ravaged by a single beast. After finally assessing all the required information, Buck quickly analyzed for a way to stop the Andrewsarchus.

Amidst the chase between him and the animal, Buck checked if there was any way to put it down. His knife was too small. The thing would maul him to shreds before he could even get close to it. Unlike pea-brained reptiles, mammals were smarter. He grinned for a second at the thought before hearing behind him the snapping of teeth, putting him back into reality. It suddenly jolted towards him, and Buck made an immediate turn. The Andrewsarchus blindly charged away, giving Buck a slight advantage with distance.

Again, while panting in retreat, he tried thinking of another solution while he could. The weasel had found himself running in circles as he was back to where he first met the beast eye-to-eye. While limping away, his toes accidentally skidded along the edges of a cut bamboo. Buck took a moment's glance and he sprung up an idea.

Buck grabbed a long piece of bamboo and started cutting an end with his knife, making it sharp and pointed. He planned to stab the monster just as soon as it leaped towards him, holding out the make-shift spear. He looked back to see it charging its way towards him.

Without any other alternative, he threw his knife to the ground, hid the spear behind him and positioned himself. And as it jumped over a bunch of fallen bamboo, Buck held it outwards once it was mid-air.

As he stared at it with its jaw wide open at him, somehow, a piece of memory flashed before his eyes.

* * *

"What, are you doing?" asked a small-bodied Amelia in a cross tone.

I looked towards her with an odd glance. "I'm playin'" I answered. I was building a scrawny twig-made circus where I filled it with caterpillars. My creativity back then was very inane.

"Playing doesn't involve messing with the lives of innocent insects!" Amelia scolded.

"Well, it's not like they're alive anymore, anyways," I retorted. And it was true, the caterpillars weren't moving at all.

Amelia gently placed her palm at her face. "Ugh… boys. It was probably your fault to begin with," she said before going away to ignore me instead.

I simply turned and offered her the same ignorance as she did to me. I saw one of the caterpillars still moving, and I smiled.

"Ai'm callin' ya Andrew," I said, while deliberately poking at it.

Behind me, Amelia was still watching. ""If you had a dog, you probably wouldn't be doing any of this weird stuff," she muttered to herself.

* * *

Buck snapped back into the lapse of time he founded himself in. The Andrewsarchus still in mid-air, the spear being held out towards it, and him taking a second's change of mind. Right before it was close enough to get pierced Buck took hold of the other end with his left arm and held it out between the teeth in its upper jaw.

The charging Andrewsarchus charge him into a rock and the weasel closed its eyes,. A moment after impact, he slowly lifted it as he could see desperately trying to chew on him. Thankfully, it fit right into a gap where his lower teeth couldn't reach to chew on it. But he knew he couldn't keep it up forever. He grunted as he tried keeping it at bay as it growled back at him.

Quickly glancing side to side, Buck searched for a way to stop the rampaging beast. As soon as he faced right and looked down, he came upon a curious sight. A large splinter fit on its left front paw. Ironic as they both had uncomfortable feeling feet right now. Hoping it would fix everything, Buck pushed the beast's mouth back with all his might. With the few inches that brought it backwards, Buck instantly reached his left hand towards its paw and plucked out the splinter. A moment before the Andrewsarchus had chewed him to bits it fell into a deep state of relief. It slumped unto the ground with its tongue stuck out.

For the first time in his life, Buck had also never been so relieved. He slumped back down as well. He took a nice breather, leaning his arms on the rock behind him as he faced towards the sky. It was a few seconds before the Andrewsarchus got up from its relaxed position and licked Buck with its large tongue, covering him entirely in gooey saliva.

"Err… right," Buck muttered. It smiled at him with his gesture of thanks. "Yer welcome." The weasel got up on his legs to once again complete his long trek to save Amelia. But, like his first step that morning, he tumbled down to the ground. His left foot was in a worse condition than it was before. He could barely lift it up.

The Andrewsarchus tilted its head in curiosity and sniffed at his left foot. With a low growl, it turned towards him with a gesture. It lowered its body towards him, and if Buck didn't know it, it was offering him a ride. Somehow, the animal knew just where to take him as the weasel stared into its eyes.

The wild adventurist clamped on its fur and climbed up. He mounted on it with a satisfying smile. "This could work," Buck grinned. He picked up his knife stuck on the ground with its handle to the air from nearby. He then brought the Andrewsarchus to the large shoot of bamboo he had his knapsack where he kept everything he needed. Buck kept his knife inside it for the moment before holding on to the animal's fur.

He may have lost his map, but at least he had someone who actually knew the way, which was just as good.

"All right Andrew," Buck called it. "Let's go. Mush!"

And in an instant, he and Andrews sped off into the distance. With the wind passing by through his fur, he could almost feel himself drawing closer to her.

* * *

**Xion the Author: First of all, the Nyamphora Flowers? All made up. So were any flowers I mentioned before. The carnivorous slugs as well. I thought of stretching the possibilities that these could have existed, but I tried to remain factual as possible. The Andrewsarchus was just as planned, but I started considering using a Dire Wolf instead (must have wolves ^.^). But I think Dire Wolves would exist more closely to the Ice Age than to the world of the dinosaurs, so I rattled my brain thinking about the right one.**

**And lastly, I've also been editing my story "Ice Age Journeys: Raising a Cub" and fixed a few typographical errors and added some minor detail to make it look much better. That's all folks! Till the next chapter! **


	12. Pursuit

**Xion the Author****: Hello everyone, did you miss me? Weeeeell… evidently not. But I miss you! It's been a long time since I updated this (sorry for the wait), but I'm kinda glad I did because I got to think things out a lot better. I hope you enjoy~!**

**FORGOTTEN WORLDS**

* * *

_Chp__ 12: __T__óir_

Leaves danced behind the dashing Andrewsarchus. Buck's left foot continued to swell painfully. The warm gales brushing across his fur slowly turned cooler. He could see the austere orange light of the sunset dying off in the northern horizon of the ice ceiling.

If only he could trust that his new pet really knew what he was looking for. How much longer it would take, however, he wouldn't know.

Suddenly, Andrew whiffed a different scent and uttered a low growl. Buck noticed a moment later a multitude of quick ruffling of the rotten leaves on the ground. Then, an ear piercing shriek rang as the creatures around them made their appearance. They were large birds with menacing large beaks, tall legs and were at least as tall as him with his mount.

Checking Amelia's notebook wasn't an option, as he doubted he'll ever have the time to do so. "Yah!" he bellowed, alerting Andrew to move faster. But no matter how fast he'd go the giant birds would eventually catch up.

Buck quickly brought out Amelia's journal to find out about their quick chasers. Buck skillfully flipped by the pages while holding on to his mount. He reached right at the page with their picture on it, the name right above their picture.

"Terror Birds," Buck read aloud. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a large beak lunged right in front of him. Its large beak missed him, but caught something vital otherwise. The journal was caught in its beak, and Buck quickly clutched and heaved it away from it. But another beak lunged from the other side, latching onto the book instead once again. Buck knew it was hopeless then, and thus, with a great amount of regret, let go of the book. The two Terror Birds now fighting with their beaks caught in the pages simply ripped the book apart, and Buck watched as he drew away from them.

Buck faced forwards and focused on the now. A Terror Bird sneaked out from in front of them. The dog-like mammal ferociously tackled it out of the way, making it plummet away into a few shoots of bamboo. "Faster, Andrew, faster!"

A few meters strides away, they began to run downhill; the Terror Birds still in pursuit of them. With less bamboo growing at the slope, Buck could estimate more than eight Terror Birds chasing them. Buck spotted a dark ravine right at the end of the downhill slope, separating the landform into two. Buck thought of an idea, and gambled on it.

"Right Andrew, just keep going! Yah!" Buck bellowed as they charged on downwards, the Terror Birds slowly gaining on them. And right before they would have plummeted into the middle of the earth, Buck made Andrew jump over the three meter distance. Andrew managed to grab his claws right at the edge on the other side. An inch further, and they might not have made it. Bouncing on impact, Buck clutched on the tufts of his mount's fur, nearly slipping down into the dark ravine.

The Andrewsarchus pulled himself up and Buck tried to gain back his composure. They turned to look towards the other side to see the Terror Birds squawking and shrieking at them. "Yer pretty fast at running, but ya can't jump this far now can ya?" the weasel taunted. But as happy as he was with one hurdle over with, the piercing pain in his left foot reminded him that the battle wasn't over yet.

"All right Andrew, let's go." Buck had Andrew lead him on once again. Thankfully, the rest of the trip was more peaceful. At least, for now.

* * *

Amelia stared wide-eyed at the top of the mountain; the sunset's radiance flaring within her eyes. The "islet" she was held captive in almost seemed afloat, only without water. A wide chasm surrounded the islet, deeming it impossible to be traversed.

"Oh no…" Amelia muttered to herself. But, right at the corner of her eye, she thought she saw what looked like a bridge, a passageway.

But as soon as she found that glint of hope, something took away her attention. The wind crept up on her, and she turned to see that the breeze followed a large being with wings. She flinched momentarily, but recovered her composure the moment after. Her captor appeared before her. "You see how majestic this place I brought you to?" Drakon smiled, landing on the perch behind her. Amelia wondered if he was smiling out of evil intent, or was amazed at the sight of the islet itself.

Amelia took a deep breath and took a firm stand. "What do you want, Drakon," she instigated.

"I don't want to be alone anymore," he said with an endearing tone. "You'll find living a thousand years not as pleasant as it sounds. I just want you to care for me, as much as I care for you." He drew a claw closer to her, wanting to "brush" her cheek. Amelia shuddered as his scales made contact with her, but at an instant she pushed his dirty finger aside.

"Care for me? You brought me here against my will!" the female weasel retorted.

"But I just want you to be happy. I wanted to keep you safe." He replied in a soothing tone, before his voice grew full of spite and grimace. "But even after all I've done, someone out of nowhere popped out and tries to take you away from me!"

"Drakon, he's my friend! You don't understand!" she cried. She thought the dragon was mad, out of his mind.

"Oh I understand perfectly," Drakon uttered in a low tone. "Your _friend_ as of now is following us, attempting to take you away from me again." Amelia saw the earnest look in Drakon's eyes and discovered with great realization the truth behind everything.

"Drakon…!" Out from her fear and desperation came out a sense of frustration. Amelia could finally see the truth. Drakon _loved _her. "Y-you're… I… I-I'm…" Amelia couldn't find out the proper words on how to put in, and blurted out the first words that made sense to her. "This is wrong! This-this is _all_ **wrong**!"

"There's nothing wrong with it, and I will prove that my love for you is strong!" he said firmly. "By defeating the thief that tries to steal your heart."

"_Oh how poetically pathetic," _Amelia thought with a moan. "Drakon, don't do this. Drakon-"

"I will my love. And with it, I shall prove my love!" The orange-scaled dragon immediately raised his wings and beat them down in flight. Amelia's pleas only falling to deaf ears. "Drakon, wait! Drakon!"

* * *

The ice ceiling became dim, and only moonlight could pierce through and illuminate the night. Andrew began walking, panting as the four-legged mammal grew tired of running through the bamboo forest. Buck noticed the slow change of pace, and was gradually becoming worried. He could only feel pain in his left foot now, and cutting it off seemed like a tempting choice. He felt like he had a fever, caused from whatever bacteria that was in the carnivorous slugs' teeth.

"Oy, come on Andrew, you can't take a rest now," Buck encouraged. "You're a mammal you can do it! Giddy up!"

Andrew simply whimpered, and Buck's encouraging words went to no avail. His mount was tired, but under no circumstance he could bring himself to walk the rest of the way. His foot was already in worse condition as it is.

"Come on, if its any further then we need to hurry up!" said the weasel. But then, Andrew started sniffing, catching a faint scent in his nostrils. Following the scent, Andrew started picking up speed, and then started running towards.

"Woah!" Buck bounced out of surprise. "Now we're talkin'!" Speeding through the night, Buck could make it out a faint teal light out in the distance. Andrew drew out all adrenaline until finally pushing his feet down on the ground once they reached their destination. And there they were, the Nyamphora Flowers. A large glowing teal color and in thriving all around the place.

"Good job mate," Buck praised with a bit delight. The Andrewsarchus smiled happily and lay down on the ground, panting heavily.

Getting off from his mount, Buck quickly stumbled into the ground. His knapsack and the contents scattered around. Pressing his foot down on the ground only made the pain sear a hundred fold. And the fever he had distorted any sense of balance he had left. The flower, the cure, the water inside it, was simply a meter away. And yet, it seemed so far. Buck tried to get up, limping on his other good foot. One, two, a few hops forward and he loses balance. The weasel tried to maintain it, but nonetheless his sickly state made him lurch back towards the ground. If he'd continue this, he might even end up getting farther.

Andrew went towards him with a whimper, offering a sign to help. Without turning back to face him, Buck braced his arms. "It's all right Andrew. I can do this." With a heavy grunt, he began to crawl towards the flower, summoning every ounce of strength and determination he had. One inch at a time.

Finally, releasing a loud moan as he rested himself on the stalks of the large flower, he leaned his back as he sat. Protruding his injured left foot forward, he positioned it right under the Nyamphora flower. And with a push of his arm, the flower poured its contents all over his infect foot. Upon contact with the fluid, he felt a burning sensation at his foot. Buck clenched his teeth until the fluid well-doused his entire foot. Strangely, almost like magic, the swelling in his foot slowly subsided. The cure acted quicker than he thought. But it didn't seem like his fever was going away any time soon. With a sigh, he arched his back and relaxed.

Andrew went towards him and licked him. "O-oi! Cut that out, I'm fine!" Buck chuckled. A shame his new mammal friend couldn't speak. Maybe he could teach him, after he saves Amelia. Yes, that's a good thought. Something like, a family. Although he wasn't sure if he could save her, he was determined to give it his all. At the thought of the word family, he remembered a certain herd.

Then, just for a bit, he imagined the two of them living a happy normal life. The two of them, maybe start a family, live next to a group of mammoths, a cool-headed saber tooth, a bit of a smelly sloth and a pair of troublesome opossums. A stray thought, but it doesn't seem too bad.

Buck's eyes grew weary. The nestling warmth of Andrew resting at his side made him somnolent. He yawned as he grew drowsy in each passing second. Although he rode for majority of the day, his body still felt spent from the sickness. Try as he would to keep his eyes open, tired he was, and he fell asleep.

* * *

Amelia isn't really like most girls.

"Eew! Get that thing away from me!" shrieked a little weasel girl creeped out by a caterpillar dangling from my fingers.

"It's no'gonna bite," I said as I dangled it closer towards them.

"Aaaah! Mommy!" she cried as she ran away.

"Hahaha, aren't you a frightening lil' insect," I chuckled while still holding it up from its end. "Come on Andrews." I plopped him on to my paw and had him rest on my left shoulder. "I think we've had enough scaring girls for today.

"You know Buck, you are gonna creep out most of the girls you're gonna meet in your life," said a voice behind me. I turned to see it was Amelia.

"Well then…" I said slowly as I crept up my shifty hands before her. "What about you!" I said surprisingly, holding Andrew on his end and letting him dangle its underside towards her.

Her face covered a blank expression. "I'm not like most girls," she said as she brushed Andrews aside, walking past me. As she did, I noticed our not-so-significant height difference. The fact that girls get taller first before boys bothered me.

I placed Andrew back on my shoulder. "Why not?" I asked.

"Mommyyyy! Mommyyyyy!" I overheard a little girl cried as she ran to her tall mother.

"There, there sweety, what's the matter?" her mother soothed. I noticed Amelia stopping on her tracks, watching them from a distance. Curiously, I watched them too.

"Ma, mommy, a-a mean boy *sob* ah I hate insects! Wahhh!" she cried as she burst into tears.

"It's okay darling. It's alright." Her mother hugged her until she calmed down. She hushed her down in a loving embrace until she could walk her back to their hut. I glanced towards Amelia to see a forlorn expression on her face. I sighed as I read the situation. "_She must really miss her mother…_" I thought. Not wanting to see her teary-eyed, I hatched up a plan to cheer her up.

"Wha- hey!" Amelia shouted surprisingly as a bunch of snow covered her head. I rubbed the snow all over her fur, making it frizz up the way she hated it. "Buck, stop! Stop it!" she giggled. "Wha- ahaha- what are you doing?"

I stopped as soon as the rest of her head fur was frizzed and messy. "I'm not like most boys either, raight?" I said with a wink. She raised her eyes in what seemed like realization, but then I nodded my head to the left.

"Hey, give that back! It's mine!

"No, it's mine!" Two male weasels were fighting over a fruit, which seemed very deliciously as they fought arduously for it.

"Boys!" a tall buff weasel shouted as he walked out of his hut. "Quiet down! You're causing a ruckus!"

"S-sorry, sir!" the two stopped immediately, shaking in fear.

I then turned back to her with a grin. She gave me a confused look at first, but then she just smiled and said, "Yup, you definitely aren't."

Wondering whether what we meant was, or wondering if they got what we meant, I didn't really care.

* * *

Buck woke up to the sound of Andrew barking. He lifted his head to see what was going on. Andrew was facing the sky as he barked, and the weasel squinted his eyes suspiciously as he faced up as well. Suddenly, through the leaves of the tall bamboo trees, a large shadow flew above him. Instantly, he got back up on his feet in a cautious reflex.

Buck then noticed that he was standing on both feet. His left foot was completely healed, and other than slight feeling of lethargy, his fever was gone too. Buck ran to his trusty dinosaur knife and scanned the sky.

And there he was. Drakon. Buck, although far from view, could almost see Drakon's glare. After looking into each other's' eyes, Drakon let out a loud roar before flying away into the distance.

"Taunting me eh? All right then." Buck hastily went to grab his stuff. But then, seeing as his knapsack was empty with the map and journal now ripped into shreds, he decided to bring along only his knife, and the amber necklace. Wherever he had taken her, the necklace might be a clue.

"You ready Andrew?" Buck said, and his pet gave back a playful bark. Buck leaped up and got onto his back. "Let's go"

With a loud battle cry, Buck led Andrew towards the direction Drakon appeared from; his fate, to be decided in the next few minutes.

* * *

**Xion**** the Author: And I would proudly present, a cliffhanger! :D I haven't done one in a while! And since the next chapter will be what we are all anticipating, I will work hard to get it done as soon as possible! I'm nearing the end of this story, so I hope you could all stay a bit longer!**


	13. Tooth and Fire

**Xion the Author: Hello again, readers. Thumbs up for KaylaDestroyer for pointing out I had grammar errors. Not writing in … months… is very unproductive. I am slowly forgetting what I've learned. **

**FORGOTTEN WORLDS**

* * *

_Chp. 13: Tooth and Fire_

Gusts of wind passed through him as the valiant weasel rode on his pet. Buck kept his eyes forward, consumed by determination. He clenched unto Andrew's fur, latching hardly on to him as he ventured nearer to where he kept Amelia. The glint in Drako's taunting stare told him he would be waiting.

Inevitably, there would be a trap lying in wait for him there. But if there was anything he had learned in the past few years he spent living in a world of dinosaurs trying to forget a tragedy mistaken, was that he learned how to survive. He had learned how to tame the wildest of beasts and conquer the farthest of chasms. Doing what others would deem impossible, like breathing underwater.

Buck didn't think of a plan. No, he didn't even think of _how_ to take him down. All he thought was that he would, like the crazy mammal chauvinist that he was. He simply thought that in the end all the dragon was, was a giant breathing fossil.

Right. Nothing but a giant _fire -_breathing fossil. It would be just like facing Rudy. Standing on the razor's edge of oblivion, staring into the eye of the great orange beast; with only one difference: the beast had wings.

A bright light pierced through the end of the bamboo plantation, making Buck squint his eyes to readjust. Emerging from the shades, Buck finally reached his prime destination.

A large elevated island, as if "floating", lay midst upon a dark empty chasm. Judging from the direction Drakon led him to, this could be the place where he took Amelia to. The only way to find out is getting there, but that seemed to be a problem. Taking a few side glances, Buck luckily spotted a distant stone bridge connecting from the island to the original landmass. How many wonders this world had, perhaps would be left for him to uncover. "Woah boy," Buck heeled before he got off and landed his feet on the ground.

But before proceeding, Buck contemplated on his current situation. Charging ahead with pure guts and quick wits was all he had needed to live in this world of dinosaurs. But now things were different – incredibly different. All he had to risk then was his own life, but now he was risking the life of another as well; the life of someone more important to him than his own.

Buck turned to face his pet mammal. He could never have gotten this far without him. But under no circumstance should he take him along. Andrew won't be as useful against the flying behemoth.

"_But then… what about me?"_ Buck pondered. Just like Andrew, he didn't quite have a pair wings growing on his back.

He needed a plan.

Scanning the familiar plants and flora growing around him, he noticed a tree growing above the rest. At the sight of its leaves, Buck scurried towards it and quickly climbed up. He snagged up one of its large green leaves and rolled it into a cone. He filled his lungs with air before blowing it all out through the small hole. An eerie distinct sound came out of the leaf-fashioned horn. Buck blew it as hard and loud as he could.

Amelia, who was carefully making her way down the mountain, heard a faint tenor sound coming from afar. She flicked her ears upon detecting it. In a gut feeling, she felt it more than just nothing. She took in a breath and proceeded to go back down once again.

After letting out his last breath, Buck dropped down and threw the horn. "_Hopefully that worked,"_ he muttered his mind in a doubtful tone.

The natural made bridge connecting the original landmass to the islet appeared to be narrow and unstable. "Stay here Andrew," the weasel instructed. Just as he was about to cross the bridge, Andrew whimpered and followed his master slowly nonetheless. Buck felt Andrew's large protruding moist snout rub against the fur on his back with a tickling sensation. "No boy, back!" Buck commanded, making his pet whine backwards.

"Stay here Andrew. I'll be back before you know it," Buck said in a soothing tone before he went on his way. His pet reluctantly stood in place as Buck traversed the narrow ten-meter bridge. His pet was shaky, and it whined and whimpered all the more with each step Buck took. Most animals had the primal instinct of sensing danger when it would come, something the weasel had acquired during his days in the more-than-prehistoric world. But Andrew had lived here for all his life, and he was more worried than brave unlike his master. The Andrewsarchus paced from side to side, barking a few times to tell his master to stop. But his "words" of caution were of no use. Each step was so unsettling that on his last step, Andrew surrendered to the ground, laying down as he anxiously placed his paws over his large snout.

Buck took a while to inspect his surroundings. Before him he sees a forest of black trees glowing with stripes of a strange orange light. A familiar color, for as soon as he realized it he took off the necklace dangling from his neck. It was amber, and Buck knew he was at the right place.

"The Devil's Belly…" Buck slowly muttered. Out of all the once he's named before, this one was named from no gag or joke. Buck sucked in a breath. After all this time you'd think you'd get used to fear.

This wasn't the first time the weasel faced off against winged creatures, nor would it be the first he had to avoid deadly things coming out of their mouths. But this one was a deadly combination of perhaps everything he had fought before. From that giant Rudy to a band of flying pterodactyls, it even had the capability to summon the anger from a volcano itself. But what truly made this foe fearsome was not the combined ferocity he had.

This would be the first time he would ever have faced, against a creature of significant intelligence.

Buckminster gripped his knife tightly, enough to feel a pained strain on his palms. He ventured forward until he could no longer hear the sounds of his pet canine making yelps.

And then… silence; nothing but the sound of his anxious breath.

The weasel thought that he might at least spot such a humongous creature in plain sight at such an obvious terrain.

A deathly silence reverberated. Buck could feel the tension in his chest. He made a long sigh to relieve some stress. And, after the sound of his breath, his ear flicked to a distinct flap from afar until suddenly the sound of rocks crashing and tumbling whilst the ground he stood on shook violently. He flinched before he turned to see the stone bridge shattered into pieces, and before his eyes was a giant orange figure emerging from below the chasm. Drakon appeared hidden before him in surprise. The dragon had destroyed his only escape route.

Buck could hear Andrew suddenly barking wildly. He watched the titanic dragon soar to the sky, rising higher with each wing beat.

And, at the final of the consecutive flaps, he dramatically spread his long tattered wings. Then, Buck decided it was time to leap into action as well. Buck lifted his legs and started running further into the amber-tree forest while above him Drakon was descending towards him. The weasel sprinted as fast as he could with the dragon gaining speed up on him. He looked back and caught glance of its mouth glowing. He estimated the seconds he had left before an expected fire-breath attack. Buck counted the decreasing seconds before his anticipated attack. And, immediately he leaped to the side at the back of a tree, feeling the close warmth of the flames on the back of his neck. The weasel took cover behind the sturdy-enough tree trunk as Drakon brushed fire all over the surroundings before being forced to arch back up to the sky.

The ground around him quickly embered to a crisp. The liquid amber-flowing trees however haven't gone to a crisp immediately. But as Buck felt the tree behind him bending slightly towards his back, he quickly dashed forward to avoid its impending fall.

Buck quickly looked up to see Drakon making another turn, swooping down once again for another breath attack. The weasel quickly leaped from cover to cover as the dragon sprayed fire to his direction. The thin trees quickly burned up with a pungent smell as the resinous amber burned away into ashes.

"I'm a sitting duck out here!" Buck exasperated. "I have to think of an idea."

He ran towards cover and hid under a fallen tree trunk. From its holes he watched the dragon fly by, scouring for him.

"Do not think that you can _hide_ from me," Drakon taunted from above.

Hearing the earth-shaking roars of a battle that has begun, Amelia looked from above to see the bursts of fire shower from the sky.

"Buck…" she muttered. She stood hesitantly before mustering her courage to run towards the battle.

Buck crawled inside the hollow of a dead tree trunk, arched his back on the side and kicked his feet forward, making it roll down a slope. He quickly sprinted to a tree hidden under view and leaned into its crevices. He could feel his fur hit the sticky amber leaking from the tree, but he kept his aggravation in.

And upon sight, Drakon sprayed liquid fire at the rolling tree trunk, making it fumigate almost immediately. Hidden from sight, Buck watched the flying demon intently. He locked his eyes on the swooping behemoth.

Drakon emitted a volley of incinerating fury, brushing over his islet without a second thought. And after the attack, Buck saw it.

Unlike the smaller flying dinosaurs he had encountered, Drakon was less versatile. A giant body like his needed more time to move back up. Even with the beat of his powerful wings, it would the dragon more time than the average.

Deciding to put his hypothesis to the test, Buck picked up a rock and pitched his arm powerfully. The stone flung quickly into the air. It landed on Drakon's scales with barely a dent or scratch. At the impact of what was merely a pebble to him, Drakon turned his attention to its origin to see the weasel from afar. Buck readied himself while once again studying Drakon.

And again he saw it. Drakon couldn't make any sharp turns, which was proven by the fact that it took him a long curve to change direction. With its great strength and brutality, Buck decided that its lack of finesse and agility should be taken advantage of.

But his ways to exploit his weakness would have to come later, as Drakon was coming in for a dangerous attack. Buck ran back with a jolt going as fast as he could. He looked over his shoulder to see the terrifying thing gaining up on him. Just as Buck turned his eyes forward, he immediately stopped. "Uh oh…" In front of him was the edge of the islet, and without anywhere to hide Buck had to think quickly.

When Drakon once again procured a fire breath attack, the radiating orange blinded him from seeing clearly where the weasel might go. Buck dropped down and clinged onto a loose edge on the base of the islet. He could feel the heat of the fire searing on his fingertips as he desperately held on. Satisfied that he had burned everything to a crisp, Drakon flapped his wings and flew away from the vicinity.

The weasel pulled himself up. His feet landed on ember hot earth. He quickly ran towards a tree to cover himself. "That the best you could do!" he taunted loudly. Buck was sure Drakon heard it after hearing an earth-splitting roar.

Buck made his way deeper into the amber-tree forest whilst keeping an eye at the sky. Amelia was rushing forward while also making sure Drakon wasn't around. Then, the two immediately stopped running as they collided into something in front of them. They gave off an "oof!" as the bounced onto their rumps.

Buck shook his head and looked ahead to see what it was, and in front of him was Amelia caressing her head due to a bump on it.

"Amelia!" he cried light-heartedly. Amelia opened her eyes to see him jolting towards her.

"B-Buck!" she cried out in return as they hugged warmly in their reunion. Amelia wanted the hug to last longer, but Buck broke their hug sooner than expected.

"Amelia, get tuh the haighest point of this islet as fast as possible," Buck said.

"Wh-what? What are you saying?" Amelia asked in reply.

Buck placed his hand over her cheeks as he forwarded his face close to hers. "Don't worry. I'll get us out of here."

"No – Buck, you have to listen to me," Amelia said quickly. "Drakon, he's relentless. He's not going to stop no matter what. You have to find a way to get yourself out of here, it's the only way!"

"He's not the first relentless beast I've faced," Buck said with a grin. "I've got a plan. Just do as I tell you. Trust me." The weasel ran off in a hurry.

"W-wait! Buck!" she called out. Buck stopped for a moment to turn around. He nodded with a smile at her, a sign to reassure her everything will be alright. As Buck dashed off, Amelia thought it was best to do the part she was asked to. "Please stay safe…"

Buck ran off to a clearing, where he could be visible in sight. At the sight of the dragon soaring with his wings high, Buck taunted at him. "You just gonna fight like that, you bloody coward!" he insulted.

Drakon growled fiercely as started to dive down towards him. Buck readied himself in case of another breath attack. "Bet you can't fight me like a real man, eh!" He bellowed. Drakon roared furiously, and at a turn of events, he closed his jaws and came in closer and shadowed above him. Buck turned to witness the large beast land down in earthshaking slam.

"Hmph," the dragon said as he turned to face the weasel, towering over him. "You little _whelp_. You think you can challenge me? I've burned down over a thousand things of your size."

"And I've wrangled up a dozen of yours," Buck retorted. "I wondah which one of us did bettah."

"Enough!" Drakon roared, brandishing his scaled wings into the air. "You have been a thorn at my side for far too long!"

"That so?" Buck said defiantly. "Then let's see what you are like in a real fight, ol' man."

Drakon laughed in bemusement, landing his well sharpened claws at the ground. "I will enjoy seeing you struggle in your final moments."

At last, the two finally face off against each other. Amelia's fate is decided by the victor. And only one can walk out of this confrontation alive.

* * *

**Xion the Author: :3 Yes, I am not dead. I will still continue to update this, don't worry. Hopefully I still have my old readers. I don't know. Please review to tell me your still reading this :P **


	14. Against the Gales

**Xion the Author: This had remained 3/4ths written for a long time. Chapter 15 (the epilogue btw) will come out ASAP. I can't believe I've been writing this story for over a year now. I should've finished writing two by now. Ah well. C'est la vie **

**FORGOTTEN WORLDS**

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_Chp. 14: Kontraŭ la ventegoj  
_

Buck jumped into action as Drakon fiercely slammed down his sharp jagged claw. The weasel leaped into the air. He quickly hoisted himself up while lightly maneuvering in mid-air as Drakon swiped his other claw towards him.

As Buck dove in from the air with his knife in hand, he realized a fatal mistake as he first glanced down. Drakon turned around to have him meet his spiky tail. The beast swung it like a heavy trunk of wood. Buck braced himself as he quickly held his knife in his mouth and latched on to the dragon's scaly tail. It appeared that Drakon was faster on land compared to his slow demeanor in air.

Realizing the weasel had latched on, Drakon turned onwards to build momentum, swinging his tail even further. The lack of space from the small clearing reached his tail towards the trees. The dragon mightily swung it across, breaking the hard wood like glass. The disintegrated into tiny pieces as Buck held on from the numerous colliding impacts. Drakon had made a complete 360 degree turn, destroying all the trees within reach.

When Drakon had finished he looked back to see the weasel still gripping, but only a bit shaky. He took this moment of Buck's moment of weakness as he whipped his tail upward, making Buck lose hold and swing uncontrollably high into the air. The weasel flew into the air, and the moment he could look down below, he saw the dragon with his jaws wide open, prompting to catch him in down his throat. If he'd dive down ahead, it wouldn't be the first time Buck would be in the throat of beast.

But Drakon was different. Unlike Rudy's simple intelligence, the dragon could easily prompt to swallow him or burn him inside his mouth. Instead, Buck offered a different alternative for the beast to chew on.

Buck tore off the amber necklace he had around his neck and threw him down ahead of him. At the feel of something in his mouth, Drakon snapped his jaws shut – but only to find out he had swallowed an inedible piece of nature. He widened his eyes in surprise only to meet eye to eye with Buck. The weasel rolled down his large forehead and down his back, now once again holding the knife in his hand.

"That oughta shut yer trap!" Buck insulted. Drakon growled in frustration. He turned to face Buck, angered enough that he wanted to cheat and breathe at him at that instance. Knowing exactly Drakon was intending to do, Buck readied himself.

But as soon as Drakon tried to let out a breath, he immediately choked and coughed. Buck noticed and grinned. The piece of amber was lodged in his throat, disabling him from being able to spray hell at his prey.

"Not so tough now, eh?" Buck taunted. Angered even further, Drakon drove his jaws forward. Buck flipped backwards to evade him. As the dragon continued to chase him with his serrated teeth, Buck evaded them as he ran away. Drakon followed him in pursuit on land, moving his less agile legs forward with each bite.

The terrain scattered with broken pieces of wood made it difficult for Buck to evade. He would nearly trip with each step. At the heat of the moment, he realized this to be a rather familiar setting, one that he had encountered almost recently.

The broken wood, the running chase, this was exactly what it was like when he first encountered Andrew. And in an instant, he turned to face the dragon. He timed his movements accurately, readying himself to dodge and strike. Buck charged towards the gargantuan, leaping sideways to evade to ear-snapping clench of the dragon's bite. Properly at the side where he wanted, Dragon raised a claw to pounce at the weasel. Buck grabbed a nearby piece of sharp wood, and went straight towards his large claw. He hoisted the makeshift spear upwards, and pierced it right into the claw.

Drakon let out a spine-chilling roar, grimacing in pain. His claw drew back, having Buck safe from being pummeled. It takes only one front leg to take down a quadruped, as Buck had learned in all his time fighting four-legged reptiles.

Finally complete with anger, his giant wings spread across in display, casting a dark shadow over the weasel. This was his chance – his only chance. The odds were against now, as if it weren't before. When Drakon fiercely beat his wings, sending gales at him, Buck stood firm in his ground, covering his arms over his eyes, but keeping his eyes focused like the eyes of a hunter.

The moment Drakon tried to take to the sky, Buck sprinted towards him. The dragon rose faster than he thought, and he could only catch with his free hand the dragon's tail. The dragon beat his wings up into the sky. His tail swung up into the air in the swinging motion the dragon made. Buck let himself get whipped up in the air and land towards the beast's giant back.

The scaly monster's spine was as tough as rock – perhaps even tougher. Swinging his knife around here would just break it. And it was the only weapon he had left other than his wits – and so far he's luckily fared better with it against the giant flying fossil's own craftiness.

The dragon's body was undulating with each wing beat. It rocked in a swaying motion, making it difficult for Buck to maintain his balance. One unlucky stagger and the next wing beat made Buck fall forwards. He let go of his knife, making it slide forward and hitting one of the scaly protrusions on the dragon's back. The dragon grunted as he noticed the miniscule clink of the knife's collision. He looked over his giant shoulders to spy the weasel mounting on his back. The weasel's left eye met with the dragon's.

With a heavy growl, Drakon slammed his wings down – immediately gaining altitude. Predicting what following actions the beast might take, Buck immediately picked himself up and ran towards his tooth knife. The dragon swerved and began to fly sideways. The knife quickly began to slide downwards. Buck leapt forward, stretching his arm to catch it. The moment he did, he grabbed with his other hand a one of Drakon's scales.

"Let's see if you could hold on," Drakon taunted.

Suddenly, the ride became immediately swift. Drakon's wings beat so hard that the gusts produced could be compared to a tornado's. He was rising upwards further and further. What the dragon lacked in finesse he made up with pure power, and despite his size he could fly faster than he looks. But the weasel knew he could take whatever speed the dragon could give.

Buck held on as long as he could. He looked down to see the world he thought he had completely conquered. It seemed no man could ever conquer an entire world by himself. Just when the weasel though he had tamed the wilderness, he discovered it to be greater than he thought. And most of all, amongst this wilderness where he tried to hide, was where he found what he looked for the most.

As the distance below him furthered, Buck realized Drakon was right at the ice ceiling. Buck questioned himself why Drakon brought him up this high, only to have his query answered the moment after. Drakon surprisingly made a nose dive, folding his wings as he dove down from the sky. Buck quickly tightened his grip. Drakon must have known he wouldn't be able to shake off Buck by natural means, so instead he involved gravity to do the work for him. Buck could barely keep his fingers tightly on the crevice of Drakon's scales. But when the ride suddenly turned, he could no longer keep hold.

Drakon made a barrel-roll in mid air. The winged reptile let the speed of gravity gain momentum for him as he navigated through the air with his tail fins. At the sudden roll, Buck swung back into the air once again. He knew it. The dragon was too smart not to overlook his own weakness. He should have known about him slow maneuverability after a thousand years!

Amelia stood at the top of the islet's peak. She watched with bated breath the ongoing battle that occurred in the sky. She joined together her hands, aligning her fingers within the spaces. She held both over her chest.

"Please stay safe…" she said as she clenched her hands tightly.

Buck fell freely downwards once again, shouting as he fell. Being flown into the air on numerous occasions made him wish he had wings himself. But he snapped out of yearning as he turned to face downwards, expecting to see the ground beneath him when instead he came upon a wide flat surface.

He landed with a thud, accidentally piercing his knife through the leathery surface. He looked across what was under him to see that he had landed on Drakon's right wing. When completely stretched, it could make up for twice his real size for each wing. Inspecting the situation, he wondered why the dragon had immediately stretched his wings.

By calculating the amount of momentum he was making, if Drakon won't slow down soon enough he might end up crashing to the ground. The very long distance they covered was too short. When he swung up into the air, he must have forwarded a bit, enough to be caught right back onto the dragon. Seemed the fossil wasn't too smart as he actually thought. Compared to Buck, whose time here kept his mind sharp and quick, Drakon spent time here for far too long – enough to make him senile and slow.

Buck grinned and laughed at his experience of foolish luck. Thankfully, Drakon hasn't noticed him yet, or the new hole he made in his wing. At least, for a few moments before Drakon shot a glance over his shoulder. At first it was nothing, but Drakon looked over his left shoulder again when he realized that the weasel was perched on his wings. In a drastic attempt to shake off the mammal, Drakon pushed down his wings.

"W-woah!" Buck clenched onto the handle of his knife. As the shaking became rougher, it became harder for him to latch on. But at the corner of his eye he finally saw the chance he was waiting for.

Drakon made one last heavy heave down with his wings, and Buck accidentally slid the dagger down the dragon's wing. Before he fell down from the sky once again, he left a big tear in the dragon's right wing, making the dragon roar in grimace. Buck last saw him going down to the ground.

As Buck fell, he held his fingers to his mouth and made a loud whistling sound. Almost a few seconds too short from impact to the ground, he was caught back into the air again in high speed velocity.

"Alright, now we're gettin' things cookin'!" Buck cried as he now had wings of his own control. A familiar pinkish pteronodon with green wings took him back into the air. "Come on, Roger!"

Amelia scanned the vast space in front of her, looking for where Buck had gone. Nor could she also spot where the dragon had gone. Worriedly, she looked towards the ground hoping her fears weren't there. But suddenly, something swift took her from behind and carried her into the air.

"Waaaahh!" Amelia cried in surprise, only to stop when she opened her eyes to see a single sparkle of blue in front of her.

"Miss me?" smiled Buck as he winked with his only working eye. Amelia found the she was in his arms as they soared into the air. "Come on, let's get outta he'ah." The female weasel found the position they were in to be incredibly romantic. She wanted to kiss him right there when suddenly she saw a dark shadow formed behind Buck.

"Watch out!" she cried before Buck turned to see the giant dragon's enraged form. Quickly noticing the orange glow coming from his throat, Buck quickly angled Roger to the side. A torrent of fire sliced through the air.

"If I cannot have her," Drakon bellowed with an echoing anger in his tone, "then no one shall!"

Buck knew it was just too easy for him to have defeated the dragon. As another breath of fire came in from behind, he looked towards the dragon's injured wing. Drakon was making a struggling effort to keep himself in the air, leaning diagonally right every few seconds and so. Although Roger was more nimble than the gargantuan, in speed they weren't too far in potential.

Buck knew he had to act quickly – in order to save the person he cared for the most.

"Amelia," he said. The female weasel looked towards him. "Have Roger take you out of here."

"What?" she muttered in confusion. Buck no longer replied as he hoisted Roger to spread his wings. The air resistance made them fly backwards, making them fly overhead of the giant dragon. Buck immediately jumped down back towards the dragon's spine. "Buck– wait!"

Her cries were said too soon as Buck was already falling towards Drakon. He landed right on the dragon's large skull. "Boo!" the weasel taunted as he placed his fingers into the dragon's nostrils, pulling them left to right to steer Drakon's direction. In the sudden confusion – along with the disability he gained from his injured wing – Drakon could not completely control himself.

Looking around, his direction had been successfully changed. "Heh, you're just like any other dinosaur!" Buck mocked.

"Do not dare try to compare me with those fledgling creatures!" Drakon shouted before he gave his head a big shove upwards, knocking Buck out of his forehead. The weasel rolled towards his scaly back but quickly gained composure. With knife in hand, he charged forwards back to the dragon's head once again.

But Drakon once again pulled the first trick he once did. Buck staggered and rolled backwards. He held on to a nearby spike as Drakon persevered to throw him off. Pushing forward and being pushed back, despite all the adrenaline and strength he mustered, Buck was kept away from reaching the front of the dragon's body. A weasel only has a few amounts of energy, and for pushing himself since the beginning of his journey, he had only so much left. Squeezing it all out, all just sheer determination, and for what purpose?

For Amelia. For all the days he spent lamenting, trying to escape his sweet imprisonment. But no longer. No more would he stay to be a prisoner of his own self.

He would keep her safe, even if it cost his life.

Stumbling and staggering back, the gales pushed him through. He was tired – tired of the same old game. In the flash of a moment, he reminisced such a similar situation: The river, the dam that broke down, the flood that started the pour of his tears. It was time to end it; to stop fighting, and let the tide flow.

And so, Buck stopped holding on. He stopped fighting against the currents. He lifted his grip from the dragon's thick scales. He held a deep breath, as if before diving, and closed his eyes. The light weasel was carried by the wind, right off the dragon's back.

And then time slowed down. Drakon raised a huge grin, looking over his shoulder to see Buck launch away. The dragon was at a cackling state of victory. He was about to laugh, to announce the weasel inevitable defeat.

Buck slowly drifted through the air. All in the few moments before the currents of fate would take him, he would cut one last thread of it. He opened his eyes to see the dragon's tail fin. His arm was ready; his knife fashioned out of a dinosaur's tooth he gripped tightly for the last time. In it, he wielded the last bit of his strength, and swung down in one might sweep.

At the final stroke, he cut off the dragon's tail fin. Like a fish, it was what let the dragon navigate and balance his body through the air. Without it, Drakon began to swerve down, letting a loud spine-chilling roar. The weight of titan was greater than that of measly mammal. Buck himself began to fall down, his knife considerably heavier fell faster than him, accepting defeat and falling down with his body facing the sky. But the giant, regardless of his efforts to keep himself in the air, began to bullet dive down towards the islet that kept Amelia prison. If he were to fall there, even from that highest distance possible, he would survive. But the tear on his left wing prevented him to do so.

The monster began to anchor left, moving towards the giant chasm that separated the amber-forest filled islet. Realizing his impending doom through the abyss, Drakon desperately reached his arms towards the floating-like island. A few moments before falling, he managed to get his claws down onto the ground. The dragon perilously tried to lift himself up.

Finally free from the bonds he himself tied into, Buck raised a large grin. Life of adventure, he had. He was content. The life he led was more excitement a thousand normal weasels would ever have. But, like any other person, he would have one last regret before passing on to the next world.

The distant voice of an angel suddenly called to him. To that, he closed his eyes and smiled in bliss.

"Buck."

The weasel let out a breath, relaxing as he thought it was time that the next world was about to welcome him.

"Buck!"

Again, he heard it, nearer this time. He opened his eyes upon realization of whose voice it was.

The dragon, against the weight of his lower body, pulled himself up. With his efforts, he realized that he would no longer fall to his death. Drakon let out a heavy sigh. But then a loud tremor erupted through the entire islet. Slowly, he could feel the weight of the "floating" land push towards him. Drakon could not believe it. His weight had begun to topple the islet down, making it sink down towards the abyss.

"I-Impossible!" he bantered. He compared himself to the weight of an acorn that split the earth all because of force. But regardless of how impossible he thought it would be, it still was. Along with his desires, his rage, his existence, the island carried it with him. With a loud roar of anger, he carried it down to his tomb.

The weasel suddenly made impact onto something in the air. Buck felt as he was carried by an angel, until she called out his name once again.

"Buck…" she muttered, her tears flowing down her cheeks. They rode now on Roger, who Amelia commanded to take her back.

The male weasel looked up before letting out a sigh. He reached his hand towards her cheek to wipe her tears.

"Come now, love," Buck said. "Wha' ah you crying foah?"

Amelia gasped and tried to hold back her tears. "You… you could have…" she exasperated.

"I know," Buck uttered in a tired voice, lifting a humored smirk.

"Idiot…" Amelia sobbed.

The day was about to end, and a new one would come next. The river is now still. Perhaps now they could cross it.

* * *

**Xion the Author: OH SWEET MOTHER OF- I forgot how good it was to write. Also, I forgot how irritating it to spend five minutes or so to look for an appropriate word every now and then.**


	15. Epilogue

**Xion the Author: I blame Rudy for why Buck won't be in Ice Age 4. Buck would've been an AWESOME pirate. He just HAD to go back for Rudy – who also HAD to be alive. So, obviously, I had to include Rudy, seeing as how much of an impact he seemingly is in Buck's return to Dinoland. And finally, after the long dialogue-less chapter, we have a dialogue-full ending. If you've been keeping up for the entire one and a half year, thank you. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I had enjoyed writing it.  
**

**FORGOTTEN WORLDS**

* * *

_Epilogue_

"Andrew, huh?" said Amelia, who rode behind Buck on the four-legged mammal. "Reminds me of your pet caterpillar." Amelia giggled at the reminiscent thought, finding humor in Buck's childish attachment to an insect. Buck shamefully blushed, hiding his face by not turning back.

"Hey now! I was just a lil' boy back then." Buck said, pleading her to stop laughing.

"I'm sorry," she chortled, "It's just funny when you think about it."

"Why did I even bother naming him with a stupid name…" Buck muttered. Andrews, capable of understanding their words though not able to speak them himself, uttered a low grunt, signifying his dissatisfaction at the comment.

"Buck," Amelia scolded, "You should be more sensitive with what you say about your pets."

"Wha- It's not mai fault you started talking about some'in' so stupid." Buck retorted.

"Geez, we probably won't even be having this situation if just flew out of here on Roger," Amelia said. "Funny thing why he would just leave like that."

Buck knew the answer why. After putting them down, Andrew came rushing in, panting like a dog. For a moment, Buck was worried as he approached Amelia. But after a quick sniff, the Andrewsarchus was completely complacent with her. A gentle lick with his slightly slobbery tongue even won her heart. Then Buck mentioned if Roger had kids now.

That was when he left.

"He's just a little shy around company, that's all," Buck lied. He took a look around thinking of a way to change the conversation. "Are we _really_ going the right way?"

"As much as I could go for. You ruined my map after all."

"Not laike the'ah was 'much' in it," Buck replied.

Amelia pouted. "That map was the only thing I could virtually spend time on without having that psycho-relic after me. It took a lot of work with hiding and looking for writing materials and gathering-"

"Raight, raight. I get the idea," the male weasel cut in. _So this is what talking with women was like. Kinda missed talking with trees…_

"I said we might go the wrong way," she said, "We haven't run into any flesh-eating insects or anything, haven't we?"

"Flesh-eating insects, giant flying reptiles… this place is weird," he commented.

"At least we don't have to walk," Amelia mentioned. "You look like you'd fall off any moment know."

And it was true. Buck had leaf-fashioned bandages on nearly every limb. He was lucky he didn't have broken any bone.

"Oh come on, I'll be faine!" Buck boasted. "I've had worse."

Then, all of a sudden, arms crept around Buck's waist, holding him tightly. "Buck…" she called out. "I… don't like seeing you hurt."

Buck let out a breath. It was better off he said nothing but enjoy the warmth of her hug. The silence and his smile was all that was needed for an answer of reassurance. He placed a hand over her arms, responding simply by touch.

Then finally, they reached the giant mountain wall that separated the Lower part of Dinoland from the higher part. They went to a stop right in front of it. As soon as they stopped, it was time for them to get down from the Andrew. But Amelia kept her arms around him for as long as she could. It was a moments before she finally let go.

Buck went to inspect the tall mound of earth. He scanned around for a way to get all three of them – including Andrew – higher up. "I don't suppose we could all climb up by ourselves…"

"Buck!" Amelia shouted. "Over here!"

He turned around to see her pointing at trees not too far off. As he walked to it, he could see thick vines draping all over its branches. Amelia tapped his shoulder and handed him a piece of stone sharp enough to use as a shiv. With it, Buck started collecting vines, cutting them off from the tree and tying them together. Amelia helped out with tying while Andrew sat down watching them.

It didn't take long for them to tie together a very long rope fashioned out of the tough vines. Buck checked his hand to find it full of blisters. Holding a piece of jagged rock for cutting wasn't as comfortable as the knife he made from Rudy's tooth. He began to think how it wasn't even as sharp. If he were ever to settle down in this vast dino-populated wilderness, he'd better have the right tools.

Buck hoisted one end of the rope around his waist. He began to climb up the mountain wall, holding on to protruding edges to grip and hold. He carefully placed his feet down on footholds before making his way up any further. Halfway up, a loose rock slipped through and made him lose balance. Amelia and Andrew gasped worryingly, but not a moment too soon Buck managed to regain his composure.

"I maight be getting a little too old for this…" Buck muttered to himself.

The thought of him getting old reminded him of a certain man that felt like he was losing himself. He wondered how the old saber was doing, if he really found himself in the end. By the time he got to the top, he stared at the same yet more familiar scenery. He could say goodbye the same way Diego did and leave the life of adventure behind him. He envisioned himself as Diego for a moment, wondering what made him decide to leave adventure.

"Buck!" He heard someone call from below. "You okay there?"

Buck let out a short chortle. The answer was right next to him. He could give up the life of adventure for a more domestic kind – one that involved a wife, and maybe even kids.

After hoisting the rope to a strong nearby tree, threw the other end back down. Amelia picked it up after it landed on the ground and tied it to Andrew. She tugged at it, signaling him to start pulling. Buck pulled on the rope the same way he did with the pulley at the Chasm of Death. Thankfully, there weren't any laughing gas or technical difficulties involved this time.

The weasel heaved one last time to get Andrew on his feet. After untying his new friend, he handed the other end of the rope to his mouth. "Hold on to it a bit mate," he said as he grabbed one end of the rope as he jumped down the cliff. Buck let out a wild, joyous cry. He was falling, pumped up with as much adrenaline the entire mammal population had all together.

In a moment of panic, Andrew quickly went to pull the rope. Buck stopped right on his track, a few meters short from plummeting to his death.

"That's a shame," Buck chuckled.

Andrew calmed himself down before letting the rope slide through the space between his teeth inch by inch. Soon enough, Buck had landed safely on the ground.

"What was that about?" Amelia said in a strangely casual tone.

"Never know when I might ever get to have that kind of fun anymore," Buck grinned, tying up a nooseat the end to make a round foothold.

"Why not?" Amelia asked him.

Buck grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close to him, then tugged down the rope signaling Andrew to pull up. Amelia wrapped her arms around the masculine weasel, hugging him tightly. Their chests were close together, feeling each other's thumping heart beat.

"Because," he answered before pressing his lips towards hers. Andrew pulled them up, and the kiss went on even as they were in mid-air. Amelia felt like she was floating, holding on to Buck with nothing but a foothold. In that kiss, she understood exactly what he wanted to say.

He wanted to be with her, for the rest of his life. He was prepared to leave everything behind – all for her. The life of adventure, the adrenaline, the pumped up excitement; nothing could compare to what the two had found in a lost little world of their own.

Love.

Even as the rope rising came to halt, the kiss went on. Andrew skillfully tied the rope to the tree trunk. One seeing the two, he could only roll his eyes. He let out a loud bark so they could finally stop. Amelia giggled in embarrassment.

"So, what should we do?" Buck asked her.

To be honest, Amelia herself didn't know. As much as she was ready to spend the rest of her life with him, and how she spent years enough tired of the place, she admittedly had never grown to hate it. Sure, there was Drakon, but now that he was gone she could go wherever she wanted, and do whatever she liked.

But answering to questions like those would usually get interrupted. Amelia was about to tell him when they both heard a loud roar echoing from not far off. At the top of the tall tropical trees Buck saw a distinctive unmistakable grey part.

"Err… uh, Amelia c-could you just… wait he-ah foh a moment?" Buck muttered. "I-I gotta… do somethin' first. Be right back!" He quickly dashed off to the direction of the sound, grabbing the rest of the rope as he went off. Amelia watched him disappear into the jungle flora, but after waiting all her life it was inevitable that she no longer could.

Buckminster ran quickly through the vegetation, following the trail of fallen trees and giant footsteps. Soon the remaining trees could no longer hide vision of large grey scaly dinosaur. Despite Rudy could still swallow him whole, Buck found comfort at the different color of scales and the wingless back. With maybe one last epic stunt, he sneaked upwards to a tall tree shadowing behind him. He couldn't see what the beast was acting frantically about, but Buck had always been better off following instinct over intuition.

A moment before Rudy caught a whiff of his scent, Buck jumped into the air with a vivacious yell.

"Yeeeehaaaawww!" Rudy turned to see a tiny weasel silhouette from the bright lights of the ice ceiling. It took a moment too soon for him to realize that lasso had been thrown to his jaws. Surprised by the trappings, Rudy took a step back and tripped on a boulder dug halfway in the ground. A large dusty thud followed his inevitable fall.

As soon as the smoke cleared, you could see a weasel triumphantly clapping the dust off his hands. Rudy, the giant befallen beast, let out a shrill grunt. _"Where have you gone?" _his grunt translated.

"Sorry mate, I was a bit busy," Buckminster replied.

Rudy once again replied with a grunt, actually indicative with various tones.

"Eaten? Me? Nah, I'm too skinny. Not a dino crazy enough to eat me."

"Or any other weasel crazy enough to face dinosaurs a thousand times their size." Buck turned his head as he heard a familiar voice.

"Or any other mammal, for that matter," added a sabertooth tiger coming into view from the smoke.

The moment the smoke finally cleared out, Buck saw a wide variety of animals, strangely giving off a welcoming aura. "Wha- what are you all doing he-ah?" Buck bellowed both surprisingly, and joyfully. "Don't tell me you came to check up on me now did ya'?"

"Well seeing how things still are…" said Manny, indicating the tied-up dinosaur behind him.

"I don't think there's any reason too," continued Ellie, who went up and coiled her trunk around the weasel like a hug. "But we're glad to see you."

"Definitely. We would've been dino-lunch by now if he hadn't been here," Diego remarked.

Buck struggled a bit from the rather air-constricting "hug", but he couldn't help say what he truly feels, "I'm happy to see all of you too."

Diego turned around to see another sabretooth hiding in the bushes. "Still not used to seeing things that eat _you_, huh?"

"I've seen a lot of strange things, believe me. One for instance was being on a pirate ship. Another would be meeting your entire family. But even after all that, hearing about a story of you guys once venturing into a world full supposedly extinct dinosaurs – yeah, I still needed a bit more convincing."

The weasel turned his head to see a non-familiar face. "Well now, who do we have here?"

"Oh, um, this is Shira," Diego introduced. "She's my –um– we're… well I'm… uh…"

The female sabretooth giggled and finished for him. "You could say we're together." Diego tried to hide how much he was blushing by faking it, but try as he may he could never find a way to hide how red his cheeks and ears were.

"Good for you mate! Actually found a _mate_ of your own now," Buck said. His flattering words didn't really help with Diego's blushing. "Name's Buck. Short for Buckminster, long for etcetera, etcetera."

Shira was quite flattered with the comment as well. "Nice to finally meet the real you. I hope you're not as crazy as everyone talked about you'd be."

"Oh they were probably just holding back with those stories," Buck said. "Try and make me sound more dignified and heroic."

"Well, we tried," Manny mentioned.

"Buck!" A voice called out from afar. "Buuuuuuck?" They all turned to the direction of the voice. Out from the woods, came another weasel, riding on an odd mammalian creature.

"There you are! The ground shook with a loud thud, so I came to check up on-"Amelia began to see the oddness of the scenery. A large dinosaur was lying on the ground, and Buck was with a pair of mammoths and sabertooth tigers. "So… anyone willing to explain things for me?"

"Aheh, you're probably not the only one wearing a face like that, dear," Shira commented.

Buck trotted towards her. "Amelia, I'd like you to meet the herd I was talking about," he said. "That's Manny, Ellie, Diego, and Shira," he said while pointing his finger to each one. "This is Rudy by the way," he slided in, pointing towards the grey gargantuan behind him.

"That dinosaur you said that took your eye?" Amelia asked. Rudy let out a growl, licking the rough scarred crevice at his upper lip.

"Yeah yeah, an eye for a tooth," Buck replied to Rudy. "By the way, I lost that knife. Any chance I could bother getting a new one from ya'?"

Rudy sounded off an intimidating growl. "Right, just a shot in the dark."

"You didn't tell me you spoke dinosaur," Amelia asked.

The weasel shrugged. "I thought I was just being insane at first when I started talking with them, but right now I'm as sane as I could possible get. Maybe after so long I just... kind of figured it out."

"So... you mind introducing her to us?" asked Diego.

"Ah, right. This is Amelia. We sort of just recently met here but she's an old friend of min- eh…" Amelia gave him a discontented look, clearly not satisfied with just that of an introduction. "She's my –um– we're… well I'm… uh…"

Amelia chortled as she went and hugged him. "You could say we're together," she cut in. Buck blushed profusely, considerately happy but still a bit embarrassed.

"Guess you two have more in common," said Ellie. "Apart from the occasional urge for adventure."

"_Occasional_?" Shira cut in.

A loud barking suddenly erupted from the scene, everyone turning their attention to it for a brief moment. "Oh, and this is Andrew."

"That your kid?" Manny asked. "You two seem to be moving awfully fast."

Buck snorted. "Not as fast as you two though, eh?" he quipped. "By the way, where is that supposedly grown up furball by now? And that sloth that smells like every dinosaur wiped their bums on the same tree, and those possum fellas that worship everything I do and say?"

"Exactly why we're here," Ellie answered. "They went off on some crazy adventure all thanks to Sid-"

"No thanks to your stories about Buck, encouraging her and all" Shira cut in.

"-and then Diego thought he found a shortcut-"

"I _thought_ I found a shortcut," Diego cut in, emphasizing the word.

"-and we ended up here," Manny finished.

The weasel raised an eyebrow. "And you lot didn't bother going back the way you came?"

"There wasn't any time," Manny said. "Peaches could be anywhere by now, and we didn't have the time. We sort of gambled on the chance that you could help us again."

"Really, I don't know where she got all that courage from," Ellie remarked.

"You sure?" Buck asked. "Cause I once knew of a helpless pregnant mammoth that went and ventured into an abyss of peril and danger who _might've_ taught her that."

"I wasn't completely helpless," Ellie said, getting his point.

"Anyways," Diego cut in, "we need you Buck. Could you help us out again?"

Buckminster made a pondering look. "I dunno… what's in it for me this time?" he asked.

"Buck," Amelia said in a scolding tone.

"I was joking!" Buck chortled. "Alright, alright, I'll help you out. I'm not sure how though. I don't have my knife anymore, and I don't think I was as fit as I was before."

"Never thought I'd hear that coming from you," Diego said. "Think of how the twins would react if they heard that."

Amelia walked up to the front. "Not to worry, I'm here," she commandeered.

"Wait – what?" everyone let out in a tone of disbelief.

She faced towards them with a confident voice. "I've been here just as long as you have Buck. All you guys need to do is follow a few simple rules and we'll be just fine."

"Like what?" Buck asked.

"Rule number 1!" she exclaimed. "Always. Listen. To Amelia."

Everyone else in the group looked at the other with suspicious faces.

"Rule number 2!" she continued, picking up a nearby stick and resting it on her shoulder. "Stay in the middle of the trail."

"And rule number 3!" Amelia said louder than the other two. "I'll just... leave that for now and we can make it up as we go along…"

"You're perfect for each other," Manny mentioned to Buck.

Buck watched a spirited Amelia walk of ahead of them. "Yeah, heh…" he said with a smile. "I guess we are."

"Come on! Chop chop!" Amelia called out for the rest to follow. Andrew walked up beside her. Buck took a few moments to digest the scene.

Buck was about to follow when another familiar voice rang out from behind.

"_Sooo… what are we gonna do about this?"_ asked Rudy in the form of a dinosaurs grunt.

"Ahhhh you'll get yourself up in no time. No following us for now though. Go look and eat for some fish when you're up." Buck answered him. He was about to turn around until he realized he had one last thing to say.

"Goodbye snowflake. Might be the last we see each other, I don't know," Buck said as he set his eyes towards a certain weasel in the distance. "But I've got a new adventure now"

Rudy rolled his eyes with a disappointed grunt. "_You used to be awesome_"

"Hey now, I still am!" Buck said before running off to chase the others. As he left off, Buck thought that maybe settling down isn't the end to all his risky undertakings. But to him, the most important thing to him now was being with the one he wants to be with for the rest of life.

Life is full of twists, adventures, and upside-downs. The universe has a cruel sense of humor – always sneaking up out of nowhere for you to make a story to tell. You could go off finding adventure, or it could always end up finding you. It's inevitable. You're never fully prepared for it.

But when it comes, you just have to dig deep and take a leap of faith.

_~Fin~_


End file.
